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MEXICO 

ITS EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS— SUGGESTIONS 
FOR THEIR SOLUTION 



BY 

MANUEL BARRANCO 



Submitted in P.vrtial Fthjillment of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of 

Philoscphy, Columbia Unt\t:rsity 



PUBLISHED BY 

Slrartirra OUollrQF, CUalumbia Hnfurrsitg 

NEW YORK CITY 
1914 



MEXICO 

ITS EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS— SUGGESTIONS 
FOR THEIR SOLUTION 



BY 

MANUEL BARRANCO 






Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the 

Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the Faculty of 

Philosophy, Columbia University 



published by 

tLmtljtVB (HoIIpgr. (Holumbta llniuprattg 

NEW YORK CITY 
1914 






COPYRIGHT, 1915, 

BY 

MANUEL BARRANCO 






PREFACE 

The ever clear and blue tropical skies of my beloved country 
have never been so dark. The future of Mexico, rising from 
her gloomy present, never was so full of terrible possibilities. 
A feeling of relief and gladness came to me when I knew that 
I could write my thesis with Mexico as the subject. At last, I 
could do something — little as it might be — and not stand by 
in exasperating inactivity, while my own people were passing 
through such sad experiences. 

Even now, as I begin to write this paper, the newsboys are 
voicing outside the latest news. Their cry, only too familiar 
to me, "The War in Mexico," makes my heart ache. I cannot 
get accustomed to it. For three years it has been ringing in 
my ears. For three long years it has been casting a shadow of 
sadness upon my life as an expatriate. But then, no one ever 
gets accustomed to that which tortures him! 

There has also been another source of painful experience to 
me. While the bloody drama is slowly developing upon the 
field of Mexico, a deluge of articles, books, and editorials about 
Mexico has overflowed this country. In a large part of this 
"literature" on Mexico, its problems and conditions, what 
amazing ignorance is shown. How many wrong statements 
and mendacious conclusions are made owing to lack of knowl- 
edge of the real factors of the Mexican problem. I am referring 
here to that press, to thoge pens, whose writings about Mexico 
are motivated by higher ideals of human brotherhood and by 
a lofty sense of justice. 

As to the "jingo" press and writers, those that have nothing 
but words of contempt and burning irony for our sorrows, and 
those who, pursuing selfish and mercenary purposes, want to 
capitalize in dollars our sufferings, and so are engaged in the 
ungrateful task of misleading public opinion, what can I say to 
them? Nothing is the matter with their knowledge or their 
thinking; the wrong is in their hearts and only God can correct 
it. They have not succeeded in making a terrible international 



iv Preface 

tragedy of the unhappy poHtical conditions of Mexico; and 
they will not succeed. There is against them that typical char- 
acteristic of the American people as a whole: A clear sense of 
justice and fair play. 

For the former people, for those that are sincere students of 
Mexico, this work is written; to them it is humbly dedicated, 
not with the pretentious idea of changing their views entirely, 
but with the well meaning end of presenting to them what are, 
in my opinion, the real factors in our problem; thus enabling 
them to co-operate with us in solving or planning to solve 
a problem that for us Mexicans is a question of life or death. 
I must ask patience and indulgence for making suggestions 
which are meant, too, to urge others better equipped with ideas, 
experience, and intellect to pursue an inquiry that would be 
so helpful to my country. 

Love excuses many things! However, I am not going to 
discuss anything on sentimental grounds, but on the basis of 
facts and science, having as guide authorities on the subject 
and illuminating opinions from educators of Mexico, Latin 
America in general, and other countries. 

It was my good fortune to come to the United States after 
finishing my college and normal school education and having 
had experience in teaching. So, after six years of study here, 
two in a normal school and four in this university, I feel that 
I should be able to judge coolly, to compare without prejudices, 
and detect impartially our shortcomings and good qualities. 
I feel, also, that, having become familiar with American life 
and customs and ways of doing things, having lived the life of 
the American students and drunk at the same fountains their 
ideals of progress and democracy, without losing, however, one 
atom of fondness and regard for my country, I should be able 
to speak and see the things of Mexico with the eyes of an Amer- 
ican, if I care to, but with the heart of a Mexican. 

I have planned my work in such a way that, in presenting each 
of the factors, ethnical, political, social, etc., that to my mind 
constitutes in itself a problem in the complex Mexican ques- 
tion, I will establish also the premises upon which the logical 
conclusion will be the same generalization that is in the mind 
of every sober student of Mexico: And this is, That education 
and only education is the first, last, and ever the only remedy and 
perhaps the only hope of the Mexican Republic. 



Preface v 

Mexico needs, cries for, reform, for a social reorganization 
based on a better economic and social basis; and education is the 
strongest lever for a reform of this kind, since the school sees 
and plans for the future. 

There have been many patriotic Mexicans who have fought 
bravely, who are fighting gamely to give Mexico an educational 
system based on her needs and according to modern educa- 
tional ideals. But, although splendid laws have been enacted, 
in the practice little has been accomplished. It is impossible to 
build schools where "the lance is always glittering and the 
gun-shot always echoing." It is difficult to sow upon a soil 
that trembles! 

But our opportunity will come. I believe that better times will 
come, and then, when the smoke and turmoil of our petty quar- 
rels have cleared away, then and there another silent, mighty, 
and noble battle is going to be fought — a long and persistent 
battle — with its heroic, though unheralded, deeds; with its patri- 
otic, though unrecorded, sacrifices. The same battle that 
Germany fought after having seen herself humiliated in Jena. 
The same battle that France fought after the German school- 
masters humiliated her in Sedan. 

We need in our schools that old maxim of the Prussian schools: 
"Through self-activities to self-dependence." How fruitful it 
would be if we could impress in the mental make-up of our 
directing classes that characteristic " go-aheadness " of the 
northern people and succeed in directing their activities toward 
the educational field. 

The Mexicans of culture and ideals can do much in this line 
for our country. There is no time for recriminations and put- 
ting blame — a task always easy for the weak — let us construct, 
let us work. "We Latin peoples," says a French writer, "cry 
to everything to help us and never think of helping ourselves." 

One of the most important elements of our nation, its back- 
bone in certain respects, we may say, is made by the millions, 
yes, the many millions of "certain wild animals" — quoting La 
Bruyere's famous picture of the French peasants on the eve of 
the French revolution — "male and female, scattered over the 
fields, black, livid, all burned by the sun, bound to the earth 
that they dig and work with unconquerable pertinacity, they 
have a sort of articulate voice and, when they rise on their feet, 
they show human faces and in fact are men!" 



vi Preface 

Sadly, this is a true picture of our Indians in Mexico. For 
four centuries that has been their unhappy destiny in their once 
powerful and glorious Anahuac. Their world has been their 
toiled soil and has had for its limits the rising and setting of 
the sun! 

It is time for us to go to them, to raise them up by means of 
education, extending to them our hand, not as protectors, nor 
as tutors, not only as friends, but as brothers and fellow citi- 
zens. When the school has given a little corner of sunshine in 
this festival of light of our civilization — God knows that they 
never have had a chance — then we will have done our duty and 
Mexico will be a great united nation. 

As to the Americans: I pray that this and other works of the 
same kind will induce them to study us better and to know 
really what our situation and problems are. One of my first 
ideas when I took up this work was to read what American 
travelers who have gone to Mexico or Latin America say about 
us, how they see us. Of course, I know what the "average" 
American knows about us. Here again, I was disappointed to 
find the astonishing lack of knowledge that the great majority 
display in their observations and statements. Some of them 
have measured our acts and manners according to strict American 
standards of thinking and doing, ignoring the fact that they are 
dealing with the characteristics of another race. Others have 
regarded our political trials and failures as proofs of our unfit- 
ness for democracy without stopping to think that our nation 
is hardly a century old and in her democratic essays of govern- 
ment and freedom, forgetting the centuries during which the 
Teutonic people have been learning the principles of self-govern- 
ment. Commenting on the American ignorance about us, an 
American writer says: "We have only just discovered Spanish- 
America." I believe this is the main cause of the misunder- 
standing that often arises between peoples, between Mexico 
and the United States. Knowledge of the persons, as well as 
the culture, always softens personal relations and gives that 
social sense of friendly relationship that makes one see and 
judge people with sympathetic attitude. 

The man that we do not like is the man that we do not know. 
I do wish Mexicans could know Americans as I know them, and 
that Americans could know my countrymen as I know their 
countrymen. If we treat and come into contact with certain 



Preface vii 

people about whom we know little, we are surprised to discover 
unsuspected noble qualities, admirable traits that make us like 
them. "Whenever we are tempted to conclude that somebody 
is hopelessly insignificant," says an eminent writer, "then, 
what we need to correct is our judgment by better knowledge 
of them." Certainly, Americans should study and should 
understand Mexicans better; then they will know what Mexico 
is, what glorious hopes belong to her beyond the temporary 
dangers and embroilments of the times. 

I have faith that beyond the unhappy civil war that now 
stains with blood the fields of my country lies a magnificent 
future of peace and prosperity. The more terrible the storm, 
the more beautiful its rainbow! 

M. B. 

Columbia University, 
April, 1914. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 
The Races i 

CHAPTER H 
The Political Institution 27 

CHAPTER HI 
Education 43 

CHAPTER IV 
National Character 69 

CHAPTER V 
Conclusions 76 



/ 

/ 



<: 



MEXICO: ITS EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS- 
SUGGESTIONS FOR THEIR SOLUTION 



CHAPTER I 
THE RACES 



Race Characteristics and Struggles 

A race has inherited characteristics of its own. Its individuals 
differ, more or less, physiologically and psychologically, from 
individuals of another race. Furthermore, a race as a social 
group has customs, traditions, laws, institutions, and ideals 
which constitute its culture or civilization. Such spiritual or 
intellectual inheritance commonly varies in some essential 
points from the ideals and traditions of another social group. 
Differences due to environmental influences are found even in 
races of the same ethnic origin but living in different localities. 

When two races meet while moving more or less upon the 
same plane of culture, which naturally varies, since such culture 
springs up from different social and racial inheritances, then a 
clash, a friendly or more often unfriendly conflict takes place, and 
from this rival struggle, in its ultimate outcome, progress arises. 
The history of human civilization is written in the history of 
the struggle between oriental and occidental peoples, in the 
rivalry of the Western and Eastern cultures: "All activity 
is a clash of atoms or thoughts." In the physical world, all 
activity of atoms produces energy, in form of heat, light, or mo- 
tion. In the intellectual world, all activity of ideas produces 
that mighty dynamic energy called progress. 

In terms of evolution, a struggle between peoples, as that 
mentioned above, is called secondary struggle or struggle of 
contention. But there is another form of conflict, more primitive, 
more rash, more brutal, which has also been vital in the progress 
or evolution of humanity. It has been the arm that has been 

1 



2 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

used mercilessly, by the law of the survival of the fittest. This 
is called primary struggle or struggle of conquest. For example, 
take two peoples who come together, one being strong and the 
other weak, one civilized and the other barbarous or savage. 
The result of such a conflict is well known. The weak is wiped 
out and the social and racial cohension of its group is destroyed. 
The stronger, the wiser, has survived. Humanity has obtained 
a biological advantage in its evolution. 

Such was the kind of conflict that took place when in 15 19 
a handful of daring adventurers, clothed with a medieval civili- 
zation and thirsting for glory and for gold, fell as an avalanche 
upon the Aztec Empire. Was the outcome of this terrific impact, 
that pulverized a mighty nation, a gain to civilization? Before 
attempting an answer, let us sketch, in a few lines, the scene 
of this epic tragedy and its actors. 

It must have been astonishing to those sturdy warriors, who 
had still the dust of the bare Castillian plains on their boots, 
to contemplate the wonderful panorama unfolded before them. 
Imagine yourself seeing a huge plateau, embraced, as it were, 
by a pair of gigantic arms, two chains of mountains, on its eastern 
and western margins. Imagine the lofty plains of this plateau, 
from five to nine thousand feet above the sea level, crowned 
with majestic mountains and old volcanoes whose "peaks, en- 
tering the limits of perpetual snow, diffuse a graceful coolness 
over the elevated plateaus below, " all clothed with magnificent 
vegetation only seem in equinoctial lands. The gentle and 
sometimes abrupt slopes of that immense table-land were a 
symphony in green, graded into a gamut of climes, offering the 
vegetation and fruits of cold, temperate, and hot zones, within 
a day's journey. No wonder that before such a spectacle, a 
feast of color and light to the eyes, the rude iron soldiers of 
Cort6s stood astounded. They climbed the plateau and, press- 
ing on, at last reached the valley of Mexico. The jewel of Ana- 
huac was before them ! Again the Spaniards were taken aback 
by the splendid panorama. Set in a perfect ring of mountains — 
among them the volcanoes, Popocatepetl and Yxtlazzihuatl, 
always covered with a mantle of snow — resting upon "soil 
carpeted with beautiful verdure," and surrounded by blue and 
placid lakes, stood Mexico City, the old Tenochtitlan, the pride 
of the Aztec civilization, the "Venice of the Western World. " 



The Races 3 

'"Its long lines of glittering edifices and its floating gardens, 
struck by the rays of the evening sun, trembled on the dark 
blue waters of the lakes. " "It looked like a thing of fairy crea- 
tion," writes Vernal Diaz, the soldier historian, who was with 
Cort6s, as they stood motionless, contemplating the landscape 
from the hills above— like a flock of birds of prey, before 
descending upon their victim." 

"This conquest," says Prescott, "taken with all its strange 
and picturesque accompaniments, has an air of romance rather 
than of sober history. " What kind of hearts were beating within 
the walls of the great city? In what kind of civilization were 
those thousands of souls living? 

There is not room in this work for a description of the Aztec 
civilization. Let the interested reader turn to the works of 
historians like Prescott, 2 Letourneau,^ and many others, and he 
will find that the Aztec Empire was a very well established 
government, with its nobility, judicial system, laws and revenues, 
military, religious, and educational institutions, picture writings, 
^J^^honetic signs, and a calendar better calculated than the European 
of that time. In mechanical arts, the skill of the Aztec jewelers 
yet surprises those who visit the National Museum of Mexico 
City. There, one may also find beautiful specimens of pottery, 
sculpture, and feather articles. 

In their social intercourse the Aztecs were kind and polite. 
They had regular social entertainments where they enjoyed 
dancing and agreeable drinks. They had baptismal rites and 
funeral ceremonies. Their trades and agriculture were fairly 
well developed. A black shadow in their culture was their 
religious festival in which thousands of human hearts, warm yet 
from their victims, were offered to the god of war, Huitzzilo- 
pochtle, in the great Teocalli. But all, good and bad things, 
fell like a castle of cards under the feet of the conquerors, and 
from the ashes of the Empire of Montezuma an anemic "New 
Spain" arose. 

Who were the daring warriors that made this epopee pos- 
sible? They were the descendants of a noble and proud race, 
a race which has made a high record in the achievements for 



' Quoted from Prescott, Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I, p. 450. 
' Book I, View of the Aztec Civilization, op. cit. 
" Letourneau, L'Education dans I'ancient Mexique. 



4 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

the progress of humanity; but they were not the cream of such 
a race, far from it! Perhaps among them were some broken 
hidalgos but the majority, undoubtedly, could not face 
calmly the police of their country. They were a band of middle- 
age Condottiers, remarkable for their heroism, but who 
"often were mingling the enthusiasm of the Crusader and the 
valor of the Knight-errant with the bigotry of inquisitors and 
the rapacity of pirates."'* 

Alexander invaded Persia not alone to settle old debts with the 
ancient enemy of Greece, for his youthful spirit was animated 
also with the idea of expanding the Hellenic culture in Asia. 
The patrician Romans wanted to see the Roman eagles dominat- 
ing every corner of the earth. France conquered to carry 
civilization and freedom everywhere. England embarked her- 
self in conquests as a means of enlarging her commerce and 
trades by colonization. The Puritans and Pilgrims came to 
America, looking for religious liberty; but the aim of the con- 
querors of Mexico was to plunder. The banner of this band of 
heroic robbers was gold, gold, and ever gold. The poor Indians 
were astonished to see these "Sons of the Sun" go almost to 
insanity in their desire for the yellow metal, to them unimportant. 

At the beginning the Conquerors did quick work, never stop- 
ing before anything in their eagerness to seize all that could be 
found in gold and precious stones. They destroyed, burned, 
and murdered just as a band of pirates do when a ship is boarded. 
Later they were more systematic in their unhappy task, though 
no less cruel and destructive. This is the answer to the surprised 
foreigner who does not find in the beautiful Latin-American cities, 
from the Rio Grande to Tierra del Fuego, even a stone dedicated 
to honor the memory of the Spanish Conquerors. Why should 
we honor them? 

The Mingling of Races 

With the beginning of the Colonial period in New Spain, the 
process of fusion and assimilation of races began, and the present 
types of Mexicans came into being. It has been said by many 
superficial students of Mexico that a vigorous Mexican race 
cannot be expected when its ascendants have been from a group 



♦ Parkman, The Struggle of a Continent, p. 5. 



The Races 5 

of men of low moral standard on one side and degenerate Indians 
on the other. 

In the first place, although the Conquerors le.'t an ethnic 
trace of their stay in New Spain, it was too insignificant to be 
the basis for the new race. It is generally admitted that they 
never intended to settle in Mexico. Their rash methods to get 
rich quickly were in part motivated by their desire to return 
home as soon as possible. So, very shortly after the Conquest 
was consummated, the majority of them were on their way back 
to Spain, with their purses as full as their consciences, if they 
had any. Then the real basis of our race began to come. A 
current of Spanish emigration was established which has not 
ceased to flow. To say that these emigrants were or are of the 
type of Cortes's soldiers is to slander the thousands of Spaniards 
who came and are coming to our shores. These are hardy 
workers all of them, with honest and clean hearts, which have 
been always animated by that Spanish quality of hidalguia, 
that embodies a noble sense of charity, hospitality, and chivalry, 
with an ideal of loyalty and patriotism that is almost a fanaticism 
in them. Regarding the other side, the Indians, I shall discuss 
it when treating Indians later on. Such was the race that 
began to contribute to form our ethnic stock when, in the ruins 
of the Aztec Empire, and among the fallen teocallis and broken 
idols, the rude Castillian warriors found a charming "spoil," 
the Indian maid. 

It has been said that this fusion was simply due to a male 
impulse, flamed by a primitive instinct. The Spaniards came 
without women. Although in some instances this might have 
been the case, I do believe that there was another higher chord 
which moved the Spaniard unhesitatingly to the arms of his 
brown companion. The winning beauty of the Indian princess, 
who moves graciously into a society in which many touches of 
civilization were noted, the noble distinction and appearance 
in her manners and dress, undoubtedly captivated the sensitive, 
dreamy, and romantic side of the Spaniards' nature. Cortes 
himself set an example when he selected Marina, or, in her 
Indian name, "Malinche, " as companion, thus giving the theme, 
with his idyl, to the most romantic chapter of the Conquest. 
The readiness with which the Conquerors went to their pretty 
captives and the fact that they have kept going to them for 



6 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

centuries, even when there were Spanish women in the Colony, 
show that there was something higher than a primitive instinct 
behind their impulse. Perhaps in this phenomenon a proof can 
be found that the differences between the whites and the Indians 
are not so profound. It may be that this is a silent evidence 
that there are many similarities between the two races that 
make their biological and social relations closer." 

Classification of Races as Result of the Fusion of Spanish and 

Indian Bloods 

The intermingling of white and Indian blood, as well as the 
definite establishment of the Spanish power, gave birth to various 
race classes. Some writers in classifying the races in Mexico 
usually go into such detail with long lists of names that it is a 
puzzle even for a Mexican to understand it. Frequently they 
take great pains to describe types and classes that, at least in 
the Mexico of to-day, do not exist in such numbers as to form a 
class, or a real ethnic division. Again, such classes have had 
importance long ago due to special social conditions, but have 
died long since with the banishing of the said conditions and now 
their value is only historical. 

Here is the classification more often made : 

1. European race. Spaniards and other foreigners. 

2. Criollo — Creole. Of Spanish descent, but born and bred in 
Mexico. 

3. Mestizo — mixed. Spanish and Indian descent. 

4. Castizo. Spanish and mixed descent. 

5. Indians. Race autochthonic. 

6. Mulato — mulatto. Spanish and Negro descent. 

7. Zambo. Indian and Negro descent. 

Indeed, there is exactness in this list. All "shades" of color 
are carefully classified and it is technically correct. But with 
regard to Mexico the list is too long. For instance, the mulattoes, 
or descendants of Spaniards and negroes, are practically un- 
known in Mexico. Rare examples are found in our Southern 
States upon the Pacific Coast. * In the other Central, Northern, 
and Gulf States, mulattoes and negroes are only seen on the 



'Juarez, our pure Indian blond president, had six children; one married a Frenchman, 
three married Spaniards, one Cuban, one Mexican. 



The Races 7 

Pullman trains, usually speaking English and not of Mexican 
nationality. The Zambos, too, are very few, so few that I 
do not remember ever having seen one Zambo in Mexico in all 
my life. Perhaps in Cuba or Brazil these classes are important, 
but not in Mexico. Now, coming to the "criollo" — Creole — class, 
descent of Spanish parents but born and bred in the country, 
these people are not a class any longer. The criollo class does 
not exist to-day in Mexico. 

In the first place, I may say that criollo means in Spanish 
just the same as Creole in English: "born and bred a native, but 
not of indigenous stock." So, a son of English, French, or 
Chinese parents will be called incidentally a criollo of Mexico. 
Race horses born in the country of foreign parents are known 
as criollo stock. Speaking of New York City, we can say that 
it is populated by Irish, Hebrew, Italian, and German Creoles. 
The criollo s as a class have disappeared from Mexico, and have 
only historical importance. In the colonial days, there was 
the criollo class. It was formed by all the Mexicans of pure 
Spanish blood. Regardless of whether their parents and grand- 
parents were born in Mexico, they belonged to the criollo class 
and were criollos as long as they were of Spanish stock only. 

The criollos, thus constituted, played an important part in 
our political and social life, and they have their share in the 
building of our nationality. I shall speak again of them in the 
chapter on Political Institutions. It is enough to say now that 
Hidalgo, the father of our country, was a criollo. Iturbide, 
who ultimately consummated our independence from Spain, was 
another criollo. But such "class" has faded away from our 
political horizon. Perhaps it would not be difficult to detect re- 
mains or vestiges of it, personified in some "hidalgos an sang bleu" 
that are parading yet their Colonial titles and nobility in the cap- 
itals of Europe. It would not be a difficult task to trace back to 
the old criollo class the descendants of some of the members of 
our aristocracy, whose importance now, in relation to the progress 
of Mexico, is to serve as a dull background for a more vigorous 
and industrial class upon which the hopes of our democracy rest. 
The Mexican nation does not owe one particle of her progress 
and efforts towards civilization to her aristocracy. Indeed, 
it has blocked her progress by isolating itself and its money, with 
its egotism, prejudices, and conservatism, when the country 



8 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

had needed the help of all her sons. Economic and industrial 
developments have been checked by these people with selfish 
persistence which can never be forgiven. They have been the 
first to run to cover in times of distress and storm and the first 
to come out to enjoy the sunshine when all is over. 

But I am getting away from my present topic. What I 
want to emphasize is that we have not a "mulatto" or "zambo" 
class, that, although there are many pure white blood Mexicans, 
they do not form a racial class. 

The most practical and real division that could be established 
is that of three ethnic groups: i. White or European race, 2. 
Mixed race — Mestizo, and 3. Indian race. In the official census 
of the Mexican Republic this is the classification adopted. 
Humboldt made such distinction also. Other writers who have 
been "on the ground" have made it. Matias Romero, in his 
book, "Mexico and the United States," made the same race 
distinction. Prince Roland Bonaparte divided our races into* 
"Les blancs, les metis, et les Indians. " 

Statistics 

To appreciate the importance of the problem of races in Mexico, 
a superficial view of her census should be enough. However, 
a census is not very reliable in a vast country with a great per- 
centage of uncivilized population, undeveloped roads, lacking 
quick communication of any sort, and often disturbed by politi- 
cal agitations. Such has been the case in Mexico, where the 
Indians, too, systematically avoid being taken in the census, 
fearing that the Government wants to know where they are in 
order to tax or to take them into the army. In 1900, during 
the last years of the Diaz Administration, the government worked 
eagerly on the census. An office with experts was created. 
President Diaz himself, to set the example, went from house to 
house on his "block," taking the census of his neighbors. The 
bishop sent pastoral letters to the priests, urging them to co- 
operate. The result of the census was that the Republic had 
13,611,712 inhabitants. Ten years later, when Mexico was 
preparing herself to celebrate the centenary of her independence, 
another census was taken, which, although not finished entirely 



• Mexique au debut du XX Side, p. 95. 



The Races 9 

because the revolution broke out, nevertheless, gave 15,063,207 
as the number of inhabitants. Therefore, it is a safe guess to 
say that the Mexican Republic has 16,000,000 of population. 

Regarding the distribution of races, there are many very 
interesting observations to be made from the data given by the 
census : 

Per Cent, of Population 
Group 1810 1895 1900 1910 

White or Europeans 18 22 19 20 

Mestizos 22 47 43 45 

Indians 60 31 38 35 

I think the 1895 census is far from correct. Regardless of 
the inaccuracies of the census, three things are clear from a glance 
at this table : First, the white population is increasing very slow- 
ly. A means of its increase, emigration, has been small, very 
small; political unrest and lack of intelligent advertisement are 
the cause of it. Second, since Humboldt made his careful esti- 
mation a century ago, the mixed population has exactly doubled 
its number.^ Third, the Indian population is decreasing rapidly. 
Let us treat each group separately. 

Whites 

Among the pure white population the foreigners are counted. 
Politically, their influence is none, since the Constitution bars 
them from that field. Socially, sorry to say, their influence is 
not as important as it should be. Their social activities are 
very limited and mostly among themselves. Only in their 
civic celebrations do they get together and organize festivities 
to which the Mexicans are invited. They come in contact 
with the people only as a whole. In the large cities the 
foreign colonies have schools of their own. In Mexico City 
there are very good American, French, and German schools. 
Mexican children are welcomed to them. The separation of 
the foreigners is unfortunate, because the closer the social rela- 
tions, the easier the interchange of ideas, and the broader the 
sympathies. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, it is remark- 
able to observe the power of absorption that Mexico has, due, 
perhaps, to her climate or general environment. It is a fact 

' Humboldt's estimation in his Political Essay of New Spain. 



10 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

that there is a strong attachment to the country in the people 
that have Hved there. The children of these very foreigners, 
living with their parents, speaking their own language, and going 
to their own school, come to be as real Mexicans, in heart, as 
the Mexicans themselves. During the French intervention, the 
French were surprised to find many French "criollos," French 
in every way, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Mexicans 
against France. 

Economically, the whites and mainly the foreigners are a 
great factor of progress. The Indians and the Mestizos of the 
poor class can not do certain work that requires the training 
and education which they lack. The middle and rich classes 
do not care to go into the trades and industries, so the foreigners 
have control of the majority of our industries and trades. Mexico, 
like all young, rich, and undeveloped countries, needs emigration. 
With peace, a stable government, and as strong a current of 
European emigration as that of Argentina, my country will be 
the wonder of the twentieth century. 

"Mestizos" 

The preponderance of the Mestizos or Mexicans of mixed 
Spanish and Indian blood is striking. Their growth, as shown 
in the census, proves their importance as an ethnic factor in 
the Mexican nationality. In the lapse of a century, 1810 to 
1910, their percentage of the population, as calculated by Hum- 
boldt, has jumped from 22 to 45 per cent. So, for good or for 
bad, their existence as a race is an accomplished fact.* This 
rapid increase of the Mestizos can be better understood when 
it is known that in Mexico there is no sharp color line regulating 
the mixture of european and Indian bloods. In the fusion of 
two races there is a law of inheritance, that the strong race 
must predominate. So, in individuals of mixed blood, usually 
the white characteristics predominate and the individuals are 
considered whites. In the United States, where the color line 
is so sharp, a white man with a little negro blood is considered 
negro and treated as such. Perhaps this attitude is justifiable, 
as there is much difference between Indian and negro races. 



' The distinction between races is in Spanish America a distinction of rank or class rather 
han that of color. Bryce, South America, p. 471. 



The Races 11 

The following summary will make clear the rapid transition 
of an Indian into a white: 

Spaniard + Spaniard = Criollo (white). 

Spaniard + Indian = Mestizo. 

Spaniard + Mestizo = Castizo. 

Spaniard + Castizo = Criollo (white). 

Anyone who reads the history of Mexico will acknowledge the 
importance that the Mestizos have had, and those who know 
the present Mexico will acknowledge also that politically, socially, 
and educationally the Mestizos are the main factors in the life 
and progress of the nation. 

In the Colonial days the position of the Mestizos was some- 
what uncertain and not very desirable. The Spaniards isolated 
them and looked down upon them and the Indians scorned them 
as spurious or bogus Spaniards. But soon the Mestizos formed 
the bulk of the urban population and their activities were felt. 
They were the bitterest enemies that the Spaniards ever have 
had in America. When they found themselves barred from 
political or government positions, which were all in the hands 
of the Spaniards, the Mestizos rebelled and took the field against 
them. They formed the bulk of the armies that for eleven 
years fought against Spain (although there were many Criollo 
officers), and Mexico was freed mainly through their efforts. 
That is why the majority of our heroes of the War of Indepen- 
dence are Mestizos. Morelos, the greatest military general 
of them all, was a Mestizo. Guerrero, the heroic Southerner, 
who with inconquerable energy fought in his native mountains 
until his country was free, was also a Mestizo. 

It would be interesting to find out how many of the presidents 
of Mexico have been Mestizos. It is safe to say that at least 
two-thirds of them. The Old Man of Iron, Porfirio Diaz, is 
also a Mestizo. There is no doubt that the homogeneous race 
of future Mexico will be the Mestizos race, with strong Spanish 
characteristics and faint Indian traits. ** 



' The Mestizo has the same prominence socially as politically and there is absolutely no 
distinction between him and a pure white. Brjxe, op. cit., 472. The Mestizos form the 
enlightened elements or class of the country in whose hands there was always laid the steer- 
ing of the Mexican society in the moral, intellectual, and material order of things. Mexico , 
Its Evolution, p. 27. The true American of the South is the Mestizo, the descendant of 
Spaniards and Indians. F. G. Colderon, Latin America, Its Rise and Progress, p. 357. 



12 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

Indians 

Nowhere in Spanish America should the Indian as a racial 
element be treated with such attention as in Mexico. Nowhere 
in America is the Indian population so great. Probably Mexico 
has as many Indians as the rest of America put together. Out 
of the sixteen millions of souls in Mexico, at least eight millions 
are Indians. These simple statements justify the seriousness 
with which the Indian problem should be taken in dealing with 
the Mexican problems. 

Ethnically the Indian race is a factor, since a current of Indian 
blood is yet flowing to contribute to the increasing Mestizo stock. 
Economically the Indians are very important, because the 
whole laboring class in the Republic of Mexico is formed by 
the Indians. Agriculture as a whole lives there because of the 
Indians. They use old Egyptian methods in the tilling of the 
soil, but they are really the only producers in the economic sense 
of the word. And, lastly, as a social and political factor, the 
Indians must be taken into account. No nation can progress 
if two-thirds of her population are left out of her social life and 
civilization. No democracy is possible in a republic in which 
the great majority of the inhabitants are not fitted to be citizens 
worthy of the name. 

When the Spaniards arrived in the old Anahuac, they found 
a great Indian population scattered throughout the whole country, 
genetic groups here and there with differences in language and 
tribal traditions and customs, but all with the same physical 
and psychical Indian traits. Some of them had a well organized 
military government, others a powerful theocracy, having a 
regular empire under its command. Such was the Aztec Empire, 
or the republic of Tlaxcala, or the little kingdom of Texcoco. 
Farther south, isolated and disintegrated tribes were also found, 
vestiges of those ancient, wonderful, and mysterious Toltec and 
Maya civilizations. But that was not all ; in the far away Sierras, 
that run parallel to the Gulf of Mexico, and beyond, on the slopes 
of the abrupt mountains on the Pacific Coast, were many Indian 
tribes, some of them never conquered by the Spaniards nor 
by the Mexican Government even to-day. Over all those peoples 
the Spanish rule was established. The New Spain arose to 
life, and the Via-crucis of the Indians began. 



The Races 13 

What a broad field for the activities of the Castillian adven- 
turers, with madness for gold and deep aversion to work, to 
find themselves suddenly the feudal seigneurs of a country 
of unlimited riches and with hundreds of thousands of brown 
skin serfs to work those treasurers out of mother-terra! They 
had come for business and meant business, so they went heart 
and soul into the work. 

What a pathetic figure, that of the Indian, contemplating, 
broken-hearted, but nevertheless stoical, his whole country and 
culture going to pieces in a day! His teocallis torn down, his 
gods trampled upon, his sacred books or hieroglyphical paint- 
ings burned, his emperor murdered and thrown on the street, 
his priests, nobility, and warriors killed. No wonder the un- 
happy Indian lost all hope and went into submission and slavery 
with that automatic or animal passivity of a being without 
soul. He, for the time being, was spiritually dead. He be- 
lieved that his gods had abandoned him and that all was lost. 
And thus he dragged on for three centuries "ranking among the 
most ignorant and hopeless of the human race."^" The "Con- 
querors," says President Prescott, "despising them as an out- 
lawed race, without a god in the world, then, in common with 
their age, held it to be their mission to conquer and convert." 

The Spaniards organized their huge enterprise. They divided 
the best land into large states and allotted to each one of them 
along with his state a number of Indians "to civilize and 
Christianize,'' as the royal charts that established those "Enco- 
miendas" read. So, to each Spaniard a number of Indian were 
"commended," to teach them the language and religion. But 
the idea of changing these ambitious and rapacious warriors 
into sweet, patient pedagogues was absurd. They put their 
unlucky "pupils" to work like beasts in the fields and in the 
mines. The poor Indians, treated mercilessly and living like 
animals, died "like flies." Cort6s himself was "sorry to see 
their comrades of arms, so unmindful of the duty of cavaliers 
of the cross, as to brawl like common banditti over their booty. " 
It was in vain that some priests, like Las Casas, tried with an 
heroic and self-sacrificing persistence to defend those poor crea- 
tures. He went several times to Spain and kneeling before the 



"Prescott, op. cit., p. 541, Vol. I. 



14 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

King told him the horrors that he had seen in America and made 
heartrending appeals for pity and justice for the conquered race. 
It was all useless. The government of Spain did enact laws for 
the protection of the Indians. The archives of the Indians 
are full of magnificent legislative measures to protect the In- 
dians; but all such laws were "obeyed but not executed." In 
the Colonies, not a ray of hope was found anywhere. The new 
religion taught the Indians resignation, patience, and obedience 
and hopes of better life — in the other world. 

One word of explanation, not of excuse, for this ugly conduct 
of the Spaniards. It has been the rule of historians to crowd 
upon the Spanish Conquerors all the adjectives synonymous to 
cruel and barbarous, and justly so. Our indignation is aroused 
by their heartless deeds, but most historians go further and assure 
us that the conduct of the Spaniards was unique and that they 
were a disgrace to the whole human race. 

In the first place, it is not logical for us now to apply the stand- 
ards of the twentieth century to measure the actions of the 
sixteenth century. It is not true that Spaniards alone were 
disgracing humanity. The whole of Europe was involved." 
At that time, the Spaniard's conduct was the rule of the conquer- 
ors of all the nations. And certainly the Anglo-Saxon peoples 
have little right to "throw stones." Everyone in the United 
States knows the remark "that the Puritans first fell on their 
knees and then on the aborigines. "^^ The only Indians that 
have survived to tell the tale are kept confined in barren "reser- 
vation" grounds, as wild animals in a menagerie, and this hap- 
pening now in the twentieth century and in the very heart of a 
powerful and cultured nation. 

But to continue with our topic. At last Mexico was free. 
Did the situation of the Indians change? Not in the least. 
The independence was accomplished by the Criollos and Mes- 
tizos ; the Indians also fought, but they never knew why. But the 
Criollos had inherited from their old Colonial ancestors not 
only their Encomiendas and their corresponding number of 



" "La Conquete Espagnole avait ete rude pour les races indigenes; il est juste d'ajoutor, qu'elle 
n'etait pas plus douce au XVI® et au XVII® siecle dans les colonies des autres etats." Le 
Mexique au debut XX® — E. Levasseur, p. 21. 

""Wherever the English went always the aborigines disappeared before them." Washing- 
ton, Origins in American Education, p. 340. 



The Races 15 

Indians, but also their old prejudice against the Indians. There 
was between them that deep hate of those who have every- 
thing and those who have been despoiled of everything. Long 
before the independence, the CrioUos were the real tormentors 
of the Indians, as they were the ones more closely in contact 
with them. "The Indians felt more animosity toward the 
Creoles — CrioUos — than toward the Europeans. This was 
natural, since their nearer and more numerous oppressors were 
Creoles. The revolution was rather a reversal of the conquest, 
since it fixed the possession and domination of the conquered 
countries by the descendants of the Spanish Conquerors and 
settlers."" "The Indians only changed tutors," says a Mex- 
ican writer, "and the tutor, 'Congress,' to tell the truth, did 
less for them than the tutor 'Viceroy.' "^^ "The Indian of the 
present time, undermined by alcohol and poverty, is free ac- 
cording to the law, but a serf by virtue of the permanence of 
authoritative manners. Petty tyrannies make him a slave. 
He works now for the Cacique, the baron of the new Latin 
American feudalism. Without sufficient food, without hygiene, 
he decays and, to forget the misery of his daily lot, he drinks. 
The great occasions of his civil life — birth, marriage, and 
death — are subjects of a religious exploitation."*^ 

However, since 1869, when the backbone of the old Creoles 
and Church party was broken, the Mestizos government has 
made well-intentionated, although feeble, attempts for the 
betterment of the Indians, showing at least its good will. The 
"Indianista" Society at Mexico City, which has for its aim 
the defence and protection of the Indians, shows the spirit that 
now begins to prevail toward the Indians, among the directing 
class. The good intentions and desires of the leading men must 
have two dynamic manifestations, first, by extending to the 
Indians the benefits of education, and, second, by checking all 
abuses and exploitations that they are subject to by the Ca- 
ciques, or petty town bosses, mostly Mestizos." 

Physical and Psychical Characteristics of the Indian 

The characteristics of the Indians vary a little among the 
different tribes. Their environment, determining their occu- 



" Cambridge Modem History, XV, p. 299. 
" Mexico, Its Social Evolution, p. 31. 
" Latin America, F. C. Calderon, p. 354- 



16 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

pation and mode of life, impress upon them its seal. Never- 
theless, whether living idly in the suburbs of big cities, or carry- 
ing on a vigorous life hunting or warring up on the mountains, 
or living in their wigwams and miserable huts upon the arid 
central and northern parts of the plateau engaged in primitive 
agriculture or humble trades, all these Indians are very much 
alike in color, physical features, and modes of life and thought. 
They are usually of medium stature with heavy frame, brown 
skin, oblong head, with thick black straight hair, large boned 
face, with slightly prognathous jaws, an aquiline nose giving 
an air of distinction to the whole appearance, regular size mouth 
with sensual lips which hide two perfect rows of white teeth, 
few scattered hairs on the chin, reminding you that the male 
of the species is there; and, lastly, two soft black eyes of a stoic 
melancholy, illumine the usually saddened face of the repre- 
sentative of the Indian race. 

Intellectually, the Indians have not had, as a whole, a chance 
during the centuries of their hard physical labor to exercise 
their mental capacities, so they are as is to be expected. The 
best sword gathers rust and its edges dull when it remains too 
long in its scabbard. When the Indians have been educated 
they have displayed splendid intellectual qualities. However, 
their minds have not that supreme test of an intellectual capac- 
ity, inventiveness. The Indians, helped by a keen sense of per- 
ception, are great imitators, and while at the school, they show 
eagerness to learn, persistence and patience in their studies, 
which are qualities for success and aptitude for culture. ^^ 

Emotionally, the Indian offers a striking contrast compared 
with the Mestizo and Spaniard. The Indian is not as impul- 
sive and belongs to a silent race, laughs seldom and rarely aloud. 
He is sober and reserved with the whites, but tender and affec- 
tionate to his own people. The impassiveness of the Indian is 
proverbial; never a muscle of his face moves, no matter what 
emotion he is subject to. In the service of the white man, he 
is honest, loj^al, and easily managed, docile and obedient, some- 
times to the point of servileness. "I have observed," a bishop 
of Puebla wrote to a friend during the Colonial days, "that the 



">In Secondary and Professional Schools the Indians show greater application than the 
"Mestizos." Mexico. Its Evolution, p. 26. 



The Races 17 

Indian only gets into the habit of steaHng where he lives in 
contact with the Spaniards." His bravery in war and that 
Oriental indifference with which he faces death have made of 
him either miserable cannon flesh, by some ambitious military 
adventurer and revolutionist, or a splendid and heroic military 
force that has spent its blood lavishly in defence of the country 
and her institutions." "The Kafir," says Mr. Bryce, "is like 
a grown-up child, the Chinese have a curious, quiet alertness and 
keenness of observation, the Hindus are submissive though 
watchful, as if trying to take the white man's measure, but the 
Indian is none of these things. In his obedience there is no 
servility; he is reserved, aloof, seemingly indifferent to the white 
man and things in general." There is the dark side to this 
picture. That intellectual stagnation into which the Indian 
mind has been sunk by centuries of ignorance, submission, and 
passivity has made of him a being living in a kind of intellectual 
atony, without ideals and aspirations. The richness of the 
country makes it easy for him to get his living without very 
much effort and his absence of ideals toward social improvement 
makes his wants few. Adding the enervating warm climate, 
we have the reasons why the Indian is incorrigible lazy. The 
oppression under which he has lived and the unfairness with 
which he has always been treated make him distrustful of 
strangers and white men. He seldom forgives, and when he 
has a chance to settle old offences, his hatred gives impulse to 
the most cruel and brutal revenges. 

The Indian has been labeled by many writers as very im- 
moral in his social intercourse. I do not think that he is im- 
moral; I rather say that many of his actions are unmoral, but 
in general he lives a good life. "I have lived," writes a traveler, 
"with the South American Indians and I have found among 
them a chastity of thought that would put to shame many of 
our highly educated denizens of our cities. "^^ 

I have read statements made from usually over-zealous mis- 
sionary travelers, who say that Indians are immoral in their 
marital relations, that there are many children who have no 
legitimate parents. In the first place, the Indian is essentially 
monogamous. In many cases it is true that his marriage has 



" op. cit., p. 91 



"C#. ctU, p. 91. 

18 Quoted from the Evening Sun, New York, 29 Jan., 1914. 



18 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

not a civil or religious sanction, because he does not understand 
its importance, because he does not have money to pay its 
expenses, or because he lives too far away from the places where 
such sanction can be obtained. In the second place, the Indians 
have their own ceremonies and are perfectly satisfied with them. 

They have not forgotten entirely their old traditions and cus- 
toms, and in many Indian communities such marriage cere- 
monies are performed by their elders or chiefs. Then a "mis- 
sionary investigator" comes along and, finding that none of the 
marriages have any Christian sanction, hastily writes down 
"gross immorality, hundreds of illegitimate children, etc., etc.''^' 

Much injustice has been done by piling upon this unlucky 
race more evil traits than those that it deserves, as an explana- 
tion of its degraded position. However, the great guilty one, 
the white man, will never be justified in his conduct or exculpated 
of his responsibility for such degraded condition of the Indians, 
for, miserable as they are . . . 

Yet whose hearts are fresh and simple, 

Who have faith in God and nature, 

Who believe that in all ages 

Every human heart is human, 

That in even savage bosoms 

There are longings, yearnings, strivings. . . . ! 

What Shall the Future Mexican Race Be and What Are the 
Elements for Its Vitality? 

Some pessimistic prophecies have been made by those who 
believe that, on the whole, the tropical races are in decadence. 
They think that such races have not invigorating elements 
and therefore tend to disappear and sooner or later they will be 
swept away before the mighty tide of the strong northern 
races, looking for the rich soils of the equator. 20 

Other writers think that, owing to the unhealthful tropical 
environment, unsuitable for the white men, the European races 
will keep themselves out, or will be pushed out by races who 
can stand successfully the tropical climate. Benjamin Kidd 



" Le Indians conserve dans ses airs de musique dans ses melopees trainantes, le charme et 
le reve de ce passe aboli. Et le tout se transmet par des heredites mysterieuses de genera- 
tions en generations, comme les vieilles legendes et les vieilles chansons dans la memoire des 
peoples. Jules Claretie le Mexique modern. Op. cit., p. 225. 

20 See F. H. Giddings, Democracy and Empire. 



The Races 19 

says, "both for climatic conditions and in obedience to the 
general law of population, already noticed, by which the upper 
strata of society (to which the white people for the most part 
belongs) are unable to maintain themselves for any consider- 
able period, we must apparently look forward to the time when 
all these territories will be almost exclusively peopled by Black 
and Indian races." Dr. Pearson, too, writes: "The day will 
come, and perhaps is not far distant, when the European ob- 
servers will look around to see the globe girdled with a continu- 
ous zone of the black and yellow races, no longer weak for agres- 
sion or under tutelage, but independent . . . and monopo- 
lizing the trade of their own regions. . . . when China 
and the states of South America by that time predominantly 
Indian, are represented by fleets in the European seas. "22 

Let us look first into these last two opinions. The tropical 
lands are inhabited, and will be more so in the future, by a new 
race, neither Indian nor European, but Latin-American, tanned 
by the torrid sun more than by its Indian inheritance. The 
facts are against the above statements of Mr. Kidd and Dr. 
Pearson. The Indian race will disappear. The statistics show 
that it is disappearing rapidly. In Argentina, Cuba, and the 
United States, the Indians have almost vanished. In Mexico, 
the nation most populated by Indians, in one century more 
than one-third of her Indian population has gone. Two factors 
are contributing to this rapid process of elimination. First, a 
law of evolution enters into function: "Only the fittest shall 
survive," and the weak and unfitted are dying. Bad nourish- 
ment, early marriage, poor medical attendance in sickness, or 
none at all; the child death rate is as high as fifty per cent, 
according to the last census. The swift current of human evolu- 
tion, impelled by the said law, is carrying away speedily this 
racial debris to the unknown. The prophecy of the poet is 
being realized: "at the arrival of the white man, the mission of 
the Indian will come to an end and he will sail away into the 
sunset to the land of the Hereafter." 

The second factor is very important. A process of fusion is 
going on and has been going on for centuries between the Indians 
and whites. The strong, the healthy, the intelligent Indians 



« B. Kidd, Social Evolution, p. 311. 

^ Karl Pearson, National Life and Character, Vol. I. 



20 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

do not die; they are rapidly "becoming whites." Another 
evolutionary process of natural selection is taking place which 
gives good biological basis for the future race. An eloquent 
proof of this statement can be found in the statistics given else- 
where in this work. The increase of the Mestizo population 
is almost proportional to the decrease of the Indian population. 
One is being fused into the other. 

As to the first writers, who think that the actual tropical 
races will disappear before a strong tide of other races. Of 
course they are partially right. The Indians as a pure race 
will disappear, but the new race will never be entirely European. 
No matter how much European emigration (the time of land 
conquests with its occupation by another race has passed) shall 
bleach our brown Mestizos, there will be forever in their veins 
remnants of Indian blood to cool down their Latin impulsive- 
ness and vivacity, to temper their nerves in their trying mo- 
ments with an Indian impassivity and stoicism, as there will be 
remembrances eternally engraved upon the mighty volcanoes, 
Popocatepetl and Yxtlazzihuatl. As for ever in the placid 
evenings, the perfumed breezes of the old Anahuac Valley will 
hum gently the old legends of that heroic race of bronze. 

What will be the future race of Mexico? The answer is 
already in the reader's mind. 

The future race of the Mexican Republic will be the result 
of the mixture of the European blood, mostly Latin, and Indian." 
In this fusion the characteristics of the white race will predom- 
inate." The Mestizos will be in the future, as they have been 
in the past, the real Mexicans. They will be envigorized more 
and more by European blood, carried by a never-ceasing emi- 
gration ; and at the same time their brown ancestors' stock will 
become thinner and thinner. Such a race, although for culture 



s' " Every thing points to a continuance of the progress of race mixture. It is a rule In all 
parts of the world, except where religion or strong feeling or race antagonism prevents it. 
Neither of these hindrances exists in South America; the same is true of Mexico." Bryce, op. 
cit., p. 585- 

r. "An enlightened mixed race, the typical Latin American, will be the dominant element 
in social and political life in the future." 

1. "The true American of the South is the ' Mestizo,' the descendant of Spaniard and Indian; 
this new race is almost the rule from Mexico to Buenos Aires." F. G. Calderon, op. cit., p. 357. 

2^ "In the mixed race the white seems usually to predominate." Bryce, 585. 

2. "The mixed blood population, while retaining many Indian qualities, is more strongly 
Spanish in its present characteristics." Brown, op. cit., p. 27. 



The Races 21 

European, will have, however, strong characteristics of its 
own. Though I do not go as far as Burkle in believing that 
environment is everything in shaping the characteristics of the 
races, nevertheless it is a scientific fact that the surroundings 
impress their seal upon their peoples and that hand in hand with 
racial inheritance make the body and soul of a race. Bryce 
says, "Blood is only one factor in the making of men; environ- 
ment and the influence of the reigning intellectual type count 
for more." 

Happily the race problem in Mexico is clear and its solution 
is being made automatically, according to nature's laws. It 
must be kept in mind that there are only two races and that those 
two races — Indian and white — are mingling themselves freely 
and without prejudices. Helping to the success of this mix- 
ture, and acting as a great leveler, is the powerful tropical en- 
vironment, thus tending to make such races homogeneous, 
which biologically, socially, and politically is a condition for 
preservation and stability. As in a homogeneous race, the con- 
sciousness of kind is strong, the feeling of nationality is power- 
ful, and democracy is possible. Anyone who has come into 
contact with the individuals of the new race will agree that 
such individuals possess in great degrees the two traits just 
mentioned. Naturally there is not yet a definite type of the 
Mexican race, since it has just now the instability of everything 
that it is in the process of formation. What are we just now? 
The learned sociologist, Argentine Sariniento, began his book, 
"The Conflict of Races," thus: "Are we Europeans? So many 
bronze faces give to us a negative answer. Are we Indians? 
Smiles of contempt of our blond ladies are perhaps our only 
answer. Are we mixed — ? No one wants to be!" Although 
in some places and with certain persons that might be true 
to-day in South America, in Mexico our ideals of race are more 
crystallized, and to such questions we always answer: ''We are 
Mexicans!" 

Problems of Education Coming Out of These Conditions 

What is the task of the school in this race transition? I 
should say that its main work is to accelerate it. I have said 
that there is no prejudice against Indians; the only gap between 



22 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

the races which necessarily makes the process of fusion slow is 
the difference in education." 

The importance of the popular school as an educative factor 
in Mexico is obvious. In a highly civilized country the import- 
ance of the school has been over-estimated. There are other 
educational agencies as powerful or more so than the school — a 
cultured family, the Church, books and newspapers, theaters, 
social gatherings, etc., with which the people cannot avoid com- 
ing into daily contact. In Mexico the situation is different. 
Aside from the big cities, there are only two possible and natural 
educational agencies, the Church and the school — backed by 
the government. The Church has failed as an educational fac- 
tor. So the school alone stands as the only hope for enlighten- 
ment. 

It has been said that education is a "conscious evolution." 
Nowhere is it more important that this should be its view than 
in Mexico. Davidson says that education is the highest method 
of social evolution. Certainly the modern school knows arti- 
ficial means of forming habits, understands how to handle those 
delicate chords called the sentiments which mould ideals, is 
familiar also with the manipulation and development of the body 
to make the individual strong, efficient, better fitted for the strug- 
gle for life and therefore better fitted as a social being to con- 
tribute to the social betterment. That is how education in 
its true conception is a "conscious evolution." It is easy to see 
and to value the importance of this type of education in the 
midst of a young race in full period of formation. 

What a splendid task for the school in Mexico! Aim: To 
build a nation. Pupils: Some millions of human beings that 
are longing for light. Subject matter: Anything that will help 
the pupils to meet their daily needs and help to train them to 
take their part in the formation of the new nation. No, there 
is no need of the complicated regulation of a too technical school 
system. There is no need of an elaborated and over-crowded 
school curriculum. Let us in a few lines sketch what may be 
taken as a plan, to show mainly on what basis the organization 
of the educational system in Mexico might be worked out. 



*• "There is no prejudice against the Indian in Mexico, and so when they are educated they 
are accepted in marriage among the best families of pure Spanish blood." M. Romero. 
"Mexico and the United States," p. 75. 



The Races 23 

First of all, the education of the Indians is a national ne- 
cessity, so it is a national problem, and therefore the Federal 
Government has the right and the duty to handle it. In other 
words, since the Indians are spread all over the land of the 
Republic, the educational system must be centralized. Such 
centralization might be accomplished upon the same basis that 
the military centralization is accomplished. The Republic 
may be divided into educational zones, marked not by geo- 
graphic positions, but according to the ethnic distribution of 
the Indians. There are extensive zones of land inhabited only 
by certain tribes; for instance, the Maya tribes are located in 
the State of Yucatan and the Territory of Quintana Roo; the 
Otomies tribes are living in the States of Hidalgo and Central 
Vera Cruz. In this State the Totonacs are also located. The 
Tarasco Indians inhabit the State of Michocan; the Mexicans 
(old Aztecs) are distributed in some Central States and the 
Federal District, and the Mixtecos and Zapotecos tribes live in 
the State of Oaxaca. 

The territory which embraces each tribe should be made the 
territory of an educational zone, which shall have its superin- 
tendent with his headquarters established in the heart of 
his zone. All those zones should be under the general direction 
and watchful eyes of the Federal Minister of Public Education, 
who shall have a special office with a staff of general superin- 
tendents, whose mission shall be to visit the zones. 

Of course, there are many pedagogical reasons why centraliza- 
tion should be accomplished. They are the same reasons which 
the leading educators in this country are giving when arguing 
for a central educational agency in every State and in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, with more powers than those that the Bureau 
of Education has at present time. In Mexico, I must add, there 
is yet another powerful economic reason. The States of the 
Republic have rarely wilfully neglected to build schools. The 
majority of the States have worked hard to build up schools, 
but many have failed to organize a decent school system because 
of the lack of money. The Federal Government has better 
means to do it. 

We find in Mexico enemies of centralization, armed with the 
same old political objections of state rights and sovereignty — 
most of them do not know as yet the pedagogical objections. The 



24 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

answer to this political objection is logical. Is it worth while 
to discuss the right of the States to keep their inhabitants in 
the most ignominious ignorance, endangering thus the very life 
of the State whose rights they are so zealous to guard? Be- 
sides, speaking plainly, Mexico has always been a centralized 
nation, politically, religiously, and — I am willing to prove it — 
educationally. 

Going on with our "sketch" of a plan, so much for adminis- 
trative machinery. Now the subject matter. Those rudimen- 
tary schools should be necessarily narrow and intensive in their 
curriculum. They must attempt little, but do it thoroughly. In 
planning the curriculum, let us leave alone "the mental facul- 
ties" of the poor little Indians and not try to develop them with 
infinitesimal "doses" of some abstract, insipid, sometimes 
bitter, and almost always useless "science." Let us have in 
our schools that old Spartan or Roman simplicity that was so 
efficient in making men. 

The true conception of education is that it must tend to make 
the individual efficient socially. The requisites of a socially 
efficient individual in their simplest terms are these: First, he 
must be physically fit to work and to form a family. Second, 
he must have ability enough to be a sound producer and con- 
sumer. Third, he must possess, intelligently, a sum total of 
knowledge sufficient to give him an idea of the civilization in 
the midst of which he is living, with a conception, a simple one, 
of the struggles of humanity to get where it is now. Fourth, 
he must keep in his heart con amore the moral and esthetic 
ideals of the group or society in which he lives, to help him to 
form his character. Recapitulating in three words, he must be 
able to do, to think, and to love. With these three words in 
mind, our Indian school curriculum should be made. So the 
school, wherever it is situated, no matter how poor its resources 
are, must be able to form healthful habits, direct and improve 
the occupations of the people of its locality, enrich the minds of 
such people with valuable cultural knowledge, and, last, inspire 
ideals which are the backbone of manly character. The Indians 
are a rich "material" for this kind of work. They are not hope- 
less beings. "Every group," says a writer, "is capable of con- 
tributing to the common stock something uniquely its own, 
something that in the full fruition of civilization cannot be 



The Races 25 

spared." The school should help the Indians to make their 
contribution. 

It is indispensable, before planning any course of study or 
teaching any detailed educational policy, to know well the people 
among whom our schools are going to operate, to understand 
perfectly the wants of such people, and to be familiar with the 
possibilities and opportunities of improvement that the sur- 
roundings of the community offer. It would be a pedagogical 
catastrophe to write courses of study on the desk in the Central 
Office at Mexico City for all the schools of the country without 
the knowledge mentioned, because then those courses of studies 
would be the same for every school, which would be another 
educational sacrilege. 

In preparing for the making of the curricula, an intelligent 
and experienced teacher should be sent to study carefully the 
ethnic region in which an educational zone is to be established, 
to learn the language of the tribe — every tribe has a different 
language, and those living far from the towns do not speak 
Spanish at all — to observe their customs and occupations. The 
Indians' occupations are usually basketry, rudimentary clay 
work or pottery, primitive agriculture, and commerce of fruits 
and vegetables. The great majority are peones or agricul- 
tural laborers on big ranches. Every one of these pursuits should 
be made an object of a detailed study by the teacher "explorer," 
with the view of improving their methods and results. The 
natural productions of the region, whether exploited or not, 
should also be made an object of his observation and study. 
Then, with all these important data and a good census of the 
school population, the bureau of education at Mexico City can 
start its general outlines for a tentative course of study for 
the zone that has just been studied, in close contact and agree- 
ment with the now "zone" expert or Aztec, Otomie, or Maya 
"specialists." 

Another very important problem is the question of teachers. 
No matter how good the course of study and how lofty our 
school ideals, if the teacher does not understand them or is un- 
able to carry them into practice all the former efforts and care- 
ful planning are useless. In a great school, the teacher is one 
of the most important factors; in a little country school, the 
teacher is nearly everything. 



26 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

Primary normal schools should be planned with no other 
purpose than to enlist and train a body of teachers for this great 
educational crusade. In planning the studies for these normal 
schools, our little Indian rural schools should be kept in the 
foreground and they should be the guide. Here, again, no 
accumulation of science should be required, nor scholarly erudi- 
tion in pedagogical doctrines and methods. Two years of 
sound theories, coupled with sound practice, should be enough. 
The requirements for admission might be the certificate of ele- 
mentary and superior grammar school. Each "zone expert" 
and future superintendent may bring with him a carefully se- 
lected number of young ambitious natives to be trained in those 
schools at the expense of the Government, to be used later as 
teachers in their own communities. However, in my opinion, 
this policy should not be made too general. Scholarships should 
be established for the ''Mestizos" or whites to study in those 
normal schools, and then they should be sent to perform this 
truly missionary and patriotic work. They should be the link 
that must unite the two races. They must go as messengers 
from the civilized Mexican of today to the civilized Mexicans of 
the future. The Indians will see in those young whites, coming 
to them, no longer with the whip of the slave in their hands, but 
with a heart full of sympathy, the uplifted hand of their white 
brothers who at last have remembered them. 

REFERENCES FOR THIS CHAPTER 
Sociology and Psychology 

Le Bon, Gustave. The Psychology of People, its Influence on their Evo- 
lution. Book II, Chapter I and II. 

Dejoulins, E. Anglo Saxon Superiority. Last three chapters. 

Bryce, J. Latin America. Chapter, "The Rise of New Nations." 

BuNGE, Carlos Octavio. Nuestra America — Republica Argentina. 

JUGENIEROS, Jose;. Universidad de Buenos Aires — Sociologia Argentina. 
Chapter, "Las Multitudes Argentinas." 

Bonaparte, R. Le Mexique au debut du XX® — Siecle. Chapter on 
"Races." 

Chavez, Ezequiel. Mexico, Its Evolution. Chapter on "Education 
and Races." 

Humboldt. Political Essay of New Spain. 

History 
Letaurneau. L'Education dans I'ancient Mexique. 
Prescott. The Conquest of Mexico. 
Cambridge. Modern History. Vol. X, p. 299. 
Sahugun. La Conquista de la Nueva Espana. 



CHAPTER II 

THE POLITICAL INSTITUTION 

The Government 

The government is the social institution that offers perhaps 
the best ground for the study of the customs and culture of a 
people. The ideals of liberty, as well as the stagnation of polit- 
ical inspirations, can be detected in the governmental machinery 
of a nation. Behind the brutal despotism of a Persian king, 
millions of serfs are kneeling, with fearing hearts, in an intel- 
lectual and political atony. In the Greek democracy, with its 
ideas of individual freedom and self-government, the whole 
personality of the Greek people is reflected. The sacredness of 
the home and personal rights, upon which the English put so 
much emphasis, gives the standard of the strong English people, 
so zealous of their rights and so conscious of their duties. The 
great economic issues behind which the aspirations of the par- 
ties are hidden in a political campaign show distinctly that the 
commercial character of the country reflects itself in the govern- 
ment of the United States. 

So it is with every nation's government. It shows really 
what such a nation is and what are her standards of right and 
duties. A nation has the government that she deserves or that 
which her degree of culture allows her to have. The principles 
upon which a government rests are the laws. If we know what 
a law is and means in a political institution, it is easy to under- 
stand the close relation that there is between a nation's culture 
and customs and the government. 

A true law is nothing but a custom crystallized. A commun- 
ity has been living under certain standards; some members of 
it break those standards, the whole community resents it and 
makes compulsory the obedience of what their custom has 
established, and a law is enacted. To enact a law, the people 
must feel first its necessity, because it is going to regulate what 
is already functioning. A nation must have only the laws that 

27 



28 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

her civilization can tolerate. Solon said: "I have given you 
the best laws that you can tolerate." Moses explains that 
"God gave the laws that our perversity could bear." An ideal 
legislator must understand the temperament of his people, their 
psychology; must know their past and understand their present, 
so as to make a body of laws which will be to the nation what 
the conscience is to the individual. Laws are traditions conse- 
crated and traditions are the habits of a nation, as a habit of a 
person is but a personal tradition. 

Treating the political aspect of any Latin-American country, 
some peculiar situations are found. Contrary to this concep- 
tion of law, the body of laws which were made to rule those 
young Spanish republics was not based upon what these nations 
are, but upon what they should wish to be. Such laws do not 
represent the crystallized customs and traditions of their peoples, 
but the aspirations of their legislators. The logical result has 
been that there is a great disparity between our actual political 
machinery and laws on our statute books. 

The Latin- American countries have been "promenading" 
among the nations of the world as republics, but it is a matter 
of common knowledge that they are "masquerading," because 
they are not yet republics. ^ 

Mexico has had her share in this political carnival. Her 
government is republican, and her constitution is one of the best 
documents of its kind. Ideas of equality resting upon the 
human rights are found there hand in hand with democracy 
and liberty. But in actual practice our magnificent constitu- 
tion has been kept in the most dusty corner of the government 
olBces. 



1 "South American Republics have known only two forms of government. . . . First 
there is an executive, the limits of his power ill-defined and often imposing his will by force 
in essence arbitrary and personal, and feared rather than respected by the people; secondly, 
the Cabildos and their modern deliberative bodies, never really elective." — Dawson, South 
American Republics, Vol. I, p. 55. 

"In Argentina, there seem to be no political ideas among the people for united action and 
energetic citizenship." p. 28. 

"In Colombia, politics means holding office and drawing salary and talking of the nation's 
honor." p. 60. 

"The government in Chili, in spite of its name, has been an oligarchy, composed of the best 
families of Santiago, who have controlled everything, ... no attempt was ever made to 
suppress the farce of universal suffrage." 

"The great issue in all South American republics is, in short, whether republican institutions, 
representative governments, and local authorizing shall become a reality in these countries 
and not a mere illusory program." — Theo. Childs, Spanish American Republics, pp. 28, 60, 
ia8, 129. 



The Political Institution 29 

Why have our trials in the republican form of government 
been unsuccessful so far? A nation, as an individual, must try- 
in order to learn, but our political mentors, lacking pedagogical 
insight, gave Homer's Odyssey to us to enjoy, forgetting that 
we did not know the alphabet. In other words, Mexico was not 
prepared for such a kind of government. 

The Spanish-American nations have nothing in their inherited 
political traditions to back up a democratic government in the 
Teutonic sense. Mexico, before the Conquest, was ruled by an 
autocratic emperor. He was vested with supernatural powers 
and the Mexicans regarded him with the same veneration that 
a Japanese of to-day treats his emperor. ^ There were laws and 
councils, but the Aztec emperor's will was the supreme law. 
Their religion was as imperative and tyrannic as their govern- 
ment. In the family relations, the father had the same supreme 
power in his entire relations with his family as had the patrician 
Roman head of a family. The Indian was a living automaton. 
The Spanish Conquest took place and Spain gave to Mexico 
what she had. The Spanish Colonial Government of Mexico 
was therefore an autotheocratic one. The viceroy's power was 
as omnipotent or more so than the power of the King of Spain 
himself. The Church's fondness for democracy and freedom is 
too well known to be mentioned here. The Conquerors brought 
with them their old ideas of semi-independent feudal divisions 
with a ruling class and an underworld of serfs. Wherever a 
Mexican looked, only the word obey was to be found. But winds 
of liberty swept the land and after a bloody war, independence 
was consummated and the present "Republic" came into being. 

To frame the laws or constitutions, our legislators were in- 
spired by the philosophical theory of the French Revolution and 
the "ill understood constitutional notions borrowed from Eng- 
land and the United States." 

The result of such legislation was to be expected. A decree 
cannot change the social make-up of a people. The Northern 
Republic government after which ours was modeled grew out 
of local self-government and rested on the English or Teu- 
tonic political idea of strong nationality depending upon self- 
government. As we have seen, in Mexico there was an abso- 

' See Mexico al travea de los Siglos, by Alfredo Chavero, Vol. I, 



30 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

lute absorption of the individual into the State and the Church. 
Those two institutions directed everything, regulated every- 
thing, and controlled everything. To believe that a true re- 
publican government could be established with such citizens in 
a fortnight and by virtue of an ideal Constitution was the stu- 
pendous mistake that our political fathers made. No, a "mode 
of government cannot be imported." To believe that, because 
a democratic organization of government was so successful else- 
where, it was going to be so with us was a mistake. " It would 
be as futile," says LeBon, "to persuade fish to live in the air, 
under the pretext that arial respiration is practiced by all super- 
ior animals." "It is a childish chimera," he adds, "to believe 
that Constitutions count for anything in the destinies of the 
people. The destinies of a people lie in themselves and not in 
exterior circumstances." 

The cardinal doctrine of any sound political system is that 
rights and duties should be in equilibrium. That has never 
been the case in our political life. The Government, and, 
behind it, the privileged class, has had all the rights and ignored 
all the duties,' "Under the outward forms of written laws," 
says Kidd, "they have displayed a general absence of a sense of 
public and private duty."* 

Our political system is individualistic and moves around one 
man. Questions of personality and not principles of govern- 
ment are the theme of our political discussions. The Indians 
had their Emperor and their Cacique, the Spaniards had their 
King and their Caudillo, and we have our President and jefe 
politico, with exactly the same powers and functions. Our 
whole political machinery is moved by the Cacique or jefe polit- 
icos, who are the bosses of the towns and who have no respon- 
sibility regarding their acts so long as they are in harmony with 
the plans of the President, who is the boss of the nation. There 
are legislative powers, to be sure, but its members seem to have 
byzantine natures. Such are the real political conditions of 
our nominal democratic government. 



'0/>. cit., p. 312. 

* See Candillismo, Sociologia Argentina, p. 249. Jose Ingenieres. 

"The Candillo is tlie pivot of the political system; leader of a party, of social group, or a 
family whose important relations make it powerful, he enforces his tyrannical will upon the 
multitude. In him reside the power of government and the law. His authority is invisible, 
superior to the Constitution and its laws." 

F. Garcia Calderon, Latin-American — The Politick Problem, Chapter IH, p. 365. 



The Political Institution 31 

But the noble dreamers who gave us our laws were not wholly 
wrong. Law must be sometimes a check to certain tendencies, 
with hopes of future betterment. Our Constitution is an aspira- 
tion. It stands as an ideal to be reached. It is a sacred light 
that guides our painful but not hopeless march towards a true 
democracy. 

To believe that, because our people have lived under a per- 
sonalistic government, they have no love of liberty and no desire 
for a better government is a great mistake. The Mexicans are 
as jealous of their political freedom as the most patriotic people 
on earth, and they are ready, yes, too ready, to sacrifice them- 
selves to improve their political conditions. It is remarkable to 
find among people who never have tasted the sweetness of a true 
democracy such fondness for equality and political freedom, such 
unselfishness to work for its cause, even to sacrifice. The orien- 
tal satraps found it an easy task to govern despotically their 
thousands of servile and passive people. The Latin-American 
satraps are far from feeling it an easy position in which they 
know their days are counted. Their dreadful enemy, the revo- 
lution, is always staring them in the face; a longing for freedom, 
a jealousy for their rights — which they never get — move the 
masses to form behind a leader — another satrap to be — who 
promises them order and justice and prosperity, and who has 
always unfolded before their eyes a proclama announcing that 
the Constitution has been violated.^ 

This has been the origin of almost all the Latin-American 
revolutions. When the people do not get a square deal from 
their government, if such people are servile they will remain 
quiet and resigned, but if they are virile they will rise against 
the tyrant and a revolution will take place. In the case of the 
people oppressed by a despot, a revolution is a right. That is 
the only way in which a government can be changed, when it 
does not fulfill the promises and refuses to get out. But the 
wrong lies deeper and it is not cured by revolution. We have 
aspirations to a democracy, and democracy means self-govern- 
ment, efficient citizenship, and as long as we depend on a govern- 
ment based on a personality, rather than on a principle and an 

5 "A revolution is indeed a sort of popular election. And there is something noble in the 
loyalty and sacrifice with which multitudes of poor people . . . have fought for their leaders 
and followed them to death." — Robert E. Speer, South American Problems, p. 32. 



32 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

intelligent civic organization, our hopes of better government 
never will be realized. The "man on horseback," the "strong 
hand," or the "man of the hour" are but names for the same 
thing, a despot, more or less intelligent, more or less cultured, 
but with the eternal thorn of personal ambition and selfish pur- 
poses in all his acts. 

Anyone who reads the history of the revolutions in Mexico 
will be surprised to find how the people have fought to take away 
from the privileged class, backed by the Church, the political 
power of the nation. Even in the revolution that now is taking 
place in Mexico, the people are not fighting just for the love of 
war. At the bottom of it all is the hunger of our peasants for a 
piece of land of their own and a free government. 

The strength, the courage, and the everlasting persistence 
with which these people fight for their rights give splendid 
material to mold into good citizenship. Think of those energies 
directed into their right channels by a wise and honorable gov- 
ernment and a sane and proper education! What a mistake to 
think that, because we are not yet fit for a democratic form of 
government, we never will be! From people who loved liberty 
and fought tyranny the living democracies have been made. I 
do not despair of seeing a genuine democracy blossoming south 
of the Rio Grande. The road has been and is painful. The 
world is now pointing at us as a band of savages, because we, 
unhappily, are always measured by our failures rather than by 
our progress. The world forgets that all young nations have 
passed through a critical period — a period of hesitancy, of in- 
testine struggles and vicissitudes. What nation has not founded 
its stability and prosperity and happiness upon blood and sor- 
rows? What country has not a martyr or hero to consecrate 
and the memory of a glorious past struggle to venerate? 

Where other people have reached, we will also. Democracy 
is not for one race or one people alone. Justice, virtue, and 
courage are not and cannot be monopolized by any race or na- 
tion. I know that, for those whose knowledge about Mexico 
does not extend outside of the information through a yellow 
paper, the Mexicans that are looking forward to a democratic 
government are idealists. But so long as those dreamers are 
willing to work toward the accomplishment of their ideals, they 
are dreaming future realities. "Mexican idealists," writes a New 



The Political Institution 33 

York paper, "are like honest Democrats and Republicans in the 
United States. The dreams that they dream are bound to 
come true. There is a mighty difference between an idealist 
and a visionary. Washington's ideal was a free nation, Jeffer- 
son's ideal was a free people, Lincoln's ideal was freedom for 
all without regard to race and color. Every one of these ideals 
was ridiculed by elements like those which now sneer at the hopes 
and aspirations of Mexico's most devoted sons. Some ideal- 
ists south of the Rio Grande have seen the light dimly, but that 
they have seen it at all is a fact to be recorded to their honor. "^ 
And education is going to be the mighty hand which will help 
"those dreamers" to push off upon smoother seas! 

Before going into the subject of education from the political 
point of view, I shall give a summary of our present political 
organization. The present Constitution of Mexico was promul- 
gated on February 5, 1857. By its terms Mexico is considered 
a Federal Republic divided into twenty-seven States, with 
three Territories and one Federal District — where the Federal 
authorities are — each State has the right to manage its own local 
affairs, while the whole are bound together in one body politic 
by the fundamental law of the land, the Constitution. The 
powers of the Federal Government are divided into three 
branches, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. The 
legislative power is vested in a Congress, consisting of a House 
of Representatives and a Senate. The executive is a President 
of the Republic, and the judicial in Federal Courts. Repre- 
sentatives are elected by the suffrage of married males, if eigh- 
teen years of age, and twenty-one years of age if unmarried 
(at the vote of one member for every 40,000 inhabitants or 
fraction exceeding 20,000), and hold their places for two years. 
The Senate consists of two members from each State, of at 
least thirty years of age, who hold their places for four years. 
The President is elected by electors popularly chosen in a general 
election, and holds office for six years. In case of his sudden 
death or disability, the Vice-President, who is also President of 
the Senate, officiates in his place. The States have an executive 
officer, the Governor, a legislative power, the Legislature, and 
judicial power, the State Courts. 



» The New York World. 



34 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

Education, the Main Hope of a Future Mexican Democracy 

What are the essential conditions of a Democratic Govern- 
ment? Democracy means government of the people. The 
fundamental condition of a Democratic State is that the actual 
power of government rest on the masses of the people of such 
State. There must be a substantial equality of legal rights and 
obligations and opportunities. Christianity, stating that "a/^ 
men are equal before God,'' gives the basis for Democracy to 
affirm that all men are equal before the law. But in order to act 
as one body politic a democratic society must be homogeneous 
in its make-up. Social relations in such a democratic group 
presuppose an actual coming together of the individual ele- 
ments. 

A democratic social aggregation must be harmonious in its 
habits of thought and action. Its members, who are united 
and organized for a common purpose, should come into contact, 
mingle, and converse to form an intelligent social mind, to hold 
and crystallize a public opinion. The heart of the community 
must beat with the same sympathies, beliefs, ideals, and long- 
ings for the common welfare. 

"Democracy makes of every man a king." No other political 
organization bestows upon him more honors and greater respect. 
No other social organization gives him more freedom of action 
and greater opportunity to display his personality and his initi- 
ative. But no other form of government puts upon the shoulders 
of its members greater responsibilities. The citizen must be as 
conscious of his duties as he is zealous of his rights. He must 
have the cultural and spiritual possession of his group in order 
to feel that paternal regard for its members. He must be 
educated if he wants to be an intelligent voter, and if his State 
is to have a sound, orderly, and progressive legislation and ad- 
ministration. 

Is it possible for Mexico, at present, to have such a Democratic 
government as that described above? Is it possible for the 
average Mexican to fulfill the requirements of a true and active 
citizenship? If the reader has followed this paper up to this 
point, he will give, without doubt, the same answer that I do. 
Mexico has magnificent possibilities of becoming a true demo- 
cratic nation. A young crop of energetic, intelligent, and patri- 



The Political Institution 35 

otic Mexicans have but one aspiration, but one ideal — that is, 
to build up in our country a real democratic government. They 
are now keenly alive that, to accomplish this noble task, there 
is but one way: to educate the ignorant masses, to be just with 
them, and to make the directing classes give them a square deal. 
They know too well that under the present conditions a demo- 
cratic government is Utopian. They know that between them, 
who are but two-tenths of the people, and the rest of the Mexi- 
cans there is an abyss of ignorance. How under the existing 
conditions can these eight-tenths of ignorant Mexicans be ex- 
pected to act as cultured and conscious democratic society should 
act? 

"Good government machinery," says a writer, "can make 
it relatively easy for the people to govern themselves, at least 
it tends to that direction. But there is a limit to that tendency. 
There is no devised machinery automatic enough to provide good 
government in the hands of an illiterate and half-civilized people." 
And now, being more specific, here are some opinions regarding 
the matter. 

"Briefly, we may say that the citizens," writes Theo. Childs, 
"do nothing and can do nothing against their parasital rulers 
because they are not organized and not prepared or educated 
for republican institutions."^ 

"Democratic principles have been proclaimed in the broad- 
est terms," observes Mr. Bryce, "but thinking men and even 
unthinking men cannot but dimly feel that no government, 
however good its intentions, can apply such principles in a coun- 
try where seven-eights of the people are ignorant, unfit to exer- 
cise political rights. "» 

Referring to the oligarchic government of the Spanish Amer- 
ica, Professor Bingham says: "One cannot help feeling that 
that is the only possible outcome of an attempt to stimulate the 
forms of a republican government in countries whose inhabit- 
ants are not educationally and perhaps racially prepared for 
it."9 

Georges Clemenceau remarks in his book, "South America of 
Today," that there is little homogeneity in the masses who are 



' op. cil., p. 328. 
» Op. cil., p. 412. 
•Across South America, p. 155. 



36 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

scattered and separated by land and ideas and one cannot ex- 
pect from them any concerted political action. 

Dr. Brown expresses himself thus: "The people have to learn 
that there is no such thing as liberty in the abstract, that pub- 
lic opinion must be educated in usages of peaceful discussion, 
and that revolutions are not a panacea for all political ills. 
Self control has to be acquired."^" 

Is there any doubt of the importance of the school as the — I 
am tempted to say — only panacea for our political ills? The 
school is everywhere the foundation of any democratic govern- 
ment; but in Mexico the school is more than that, it is the sal- 
vation of our nationality. 

Task of the School in a Democracy 

Aim. It must be kept in mind always that before being a 
citizen the child is going to be a man. All men are equal was — 
and it is in many Latin-American republics — the old demo- 
cratic slogan. Yet we are confronted with the psychological 
fact that there is an absolute inequality among mankind; in- 
equality in capacities, inequality in disposition and ability, in- 
equality in strength and character. The school should under- 
stand the true meaning of that old maxim: In a democratic 
society all men are equal before the opportunities that such a 
society offers. In the feast of its prosperity, all men must have 
an equal chance to share it. The school should prepare indi- 
viduals, help to develop the best within his scope, in order to 
make him able to reach the highest plane according to his nat- 
ural capacities. The school must develop "the habit of re- 
sponsibility," but at the same time must give the tools of self- 
help, the means to realize the personal independence and self- 
direction. "A healthy democracy is indeed a training in judg- 
ment and self control as applied to political actions," says Cooley. 

The Pupil. He must do his own thinking, always and every- 
where. He must feel, and actually be, responsible for his own 
acts and should be educated to stand on his own feet and face 
"the music" courageously. Let him clearly understand what 
liberty means. Among children, especially of the Latin race, 
liberty means to do as you please. He should know that his 
rights end where the rights of his neighbor begins. There is 

^oQp. cit., p. 14s. 



The Political Institution 37 

another attitude of conduct, which I want developed in 
our children. The lack of such characteristic is very notice- 
able among the Latin people in general and Mexicans in par- 
ticular. It has been one of the sources of our political troubles: 
To suffer a defeat gracefully. I have learned to admire the 
Americans more in their defeats than in their victories. They 
all are good losers. No resentment, no bitterness, no vindictive- 
ness, a dry "all right" accompanied by a cold Yankee smile, 
and all is over. 

The Curriculum — Its Educational Connections with a Democracy 
a?id with the Citizen 

Language. To have the same language is as essential for a 
nation as to have the same land. The Indians will never be 
Mexicans, unless they learn to speak the national language. 
The duty of our schools is not only to teach the Spanish language, 
but to cause it to be loved. This fondness for the language 
should be fostered, at the beginnings, by a wise selection of read- 
ing materials. There are fairy tales that belong to the children 
of all countries; these should be presented. Short stories hav- 
ing as their theme national legends and old Mexican traditions 
should not only be read, but dramatized as well; all in a clear, 
simple, and easy style, for which the sonorous and musical 
Spanish language is so suitable. In the advanced grades, 
especially in our urban schools, the love of the language must 
be more intellectual or more intelligent. Our pupils should 
read and develop an esthetic appreciation of our classical 
authors. They must be taught to read and enjoy our literary 
gems, the genuine ones. There are in Mexico many little books 
of cheap literary value and other so-called anthologies, written 
especially for children. Based on the belief that anybody can 
write for children since — they think — the only didactic condi- 
tion of a book for children is to be simple and easy and short, 
these amateurs in education have collected or written stories. 
Indeed, they are simple and easy to the point of stupidity. Some 
are really an offence to the average intelligent pupil. 

Civics. To comprehend the institutions of the land, to under- 
stand and be familiar with the methods of municipal, state, and 
national government and arouse an interest to improve and 
serve in those institutions is the civic preparation that a democ- 



38 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

racy requires for its citizens. And it is the task of the school 
to prepare these citizens accordingly. In connection with this 
subject, I remember that we read at school some pamphlets or 
"Manual of Civics," which were nothing but dry extracts taken 
from our laws. A few days ago, while reading a newspaper 
from Mexico City, I came across the approved list of text-books 
for the next school year. The "Manual of Civics" was there. 
We need better books, with more interest and vital discussions 
about the problems of the community and their relation to its 
citizens. I am going to give a summary of the topics selected 
in some text-books, as the easier way to give an idea of how this 
subject should be treated: 

"Good Citizenship," by S. Richman and I. Wallack. "This 
book is planned," the authors say, "to meet the needs of fourth 
year (fourth grade) children." It is dedicated to the boys and 
girls of America, " with hope and prayer that it may help to make 
them true citizens." Table of Contents: The Fire Department — 
engine and fire house; lessons fires teach; how citizens can help 
the Fire Department. The Police Department — noble duty of 
the police; stories of police heroes; how police keep order and 
fight crime; how citizens can help the police. This, as well as 
the chapter on the Fire Department, ends with "an afternoon 
with the police." Department of Health — how to fight diseases; 
how citizens can help guard the public health. All is written 
in a delightful and entertaining style. 

Going a little higher, we find books with more definite and 
concrete civic notions. "The Government by the People," by 
R. H. Fuller, offers a good example of its kind. The aim of the 
book is to give facts for the practical information of the voter. 
Contents: Government by elections. Qualifications for voting. 
Voting on Election Day. Bribery and Intimidation. Parties 
and their organization. Party Platforms of 1904. The writer 
avoids technical terms and treats the problems unpretentiously. 

Still a more detailed and complete treatment of this subject 
is found in the book, "Training for Citizenship," by J. W. 
Smith. It is an elementary treatise on the rights and duties of 
citizens. It would be helpful to the teacher more than to the 
pupils. 

Nature Study and Geography. Engaged in nature study, 
and while running merrily through the fields after a new "speci- 



The Political Institution 39 

men," who mockingly flaps its golden wings, the child should 
feel the emotion of the landscape, which later in life he will re- 
member tenderly, coupled with home recollections. The geog- 
raphy study should put the pupil in close and sympathetic 
touch with all that is beautiful and good in his country. He 
must know and love her people, admire her natural beauties, 
appreciate her richness, and be able to embody all that into a 
patriotic affection for his "terra patria." 

History. History is a great field to arouse and cultivate a 
true national spirit. No other subject offers better opportun- 
ity for it. No other subject has been so mistreated. What 
has been the function of history in our schools? History has 
been a long list of dates, with its burden of battles and biogra- 
phies of great men. Lately, some improvements in our text- 
books have been introduced, but there still remains in them the 
defect of almost all our histories in Mexico. This is that they 
are not histories at all, but one-sided account of events in which 
imagination takes the place of a scholar's erudition. The au- 
thority for statements is seldom given. But this is not all! 
The aim of the historian is not to narrate the events, but to 
slander and blacken the other side. There are no middle grounds; 
fairness and coolness in judgment is rare. Therefore, in the 
War of Independence, the Spaniards were cruel rascals that 
could hardly be recognized as men. In our civil struggles, if 
the historian belongs to the liberal party, of course the liberals 
were the heroes and the conservative party was composed of 
traitors and robbers. If a conservative historian writes, of 
course he also m.akes history and the poor liberals are no less 
than savages and bandits. Think of the effect of all this stuff, 
which is called history, put into the hands of our little country- 
men; whose impressions are going to be lasting! Our history 
has been the worst obstacle in our national cohesion. 

No, history has another noble and higher place. It should 
be a source of inspiration. It should be the apotheosis of our 
national heroes. We should find there no line of unfairness to 
foster hatred and ill will toward our fellow men. Neither will 
the history be a place for spectacular narrations which put in 
relief the brutal phase of human nature. It is cruel to darken 
the rosy thought of a child with bloody descriptions. It is 
criminal to muddle the limpid conscience of a boy with early 



40 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

odiousness. Someone may smile, thinking that I want to make 
little angels out of the common "average" little rascals who 
attend our schools. No one detests more than I do an effemin- 
ate and too "dandy" education and no one admires more than 
I, a manly training. The following examples will, I hope, clear 
my position. 

While treating the torment of Cuauhtemoc by the Conquer- 
ors, the contempt for death, the heroic attitude of the great 
Indian should be emphasized, instead of the cruelty and bru- 
tality of the Spaniards. During the American Intervention, 
the Americans were assaulting the Castle of Chapultepec, which 
is also the Military School. All was lost and only a handful of 
cadets were defending their alma mater; Melgar, a child, six- 
teen years old, who was the sentry at the door of the Entrance 
Hall, died face toward the enemy and firing to the last. The 
enemy fired at him only after a manly refusal to surrender. As 
he fell the American officer, at the head of the attacking column, 
jumped forward and, taking off his hat, kissed the still warm 
forehead of the child hero. The other boys were defending their 
school valiantly, resisting the invaders, room by room, floor by 
floor. The Mexican flag was still floating in one of the turrets 
of the Castle. Suddenly, an American appeared near the turret 
and ran toward the flag. Escutia, another boy cadet, the 
standard bearer, was on guard there. As he saw the big, muscu- 
lar, and massive, blond Yankee, advancing heavily, Escutia 
quickly took the flag down, hid it in his breast, and threw him- 
self down the rocky precipice. To-day, upon the place where the 
pierced body of this Spartan hero fell, stands a beautiful monu- 
ment, and every year, until iQio, the American Ambassador 
used to go on the eighth of September and deposit a wreath of 
roses upon it. 

Such should be the spirit with which a theme of history is 
approached. Why take the study of history as a means of 
arousing the sleeping, but never dead, instinctive aversion 
among peoples? One day, an "observation lesson" in history 
was being given in one of the fashionable schools of Upper 
Manhattan, and the topic was the assault of Chapultepec in 
the Mexican War. I was among the student "observers." I 
saw a boy with golden curls and clear blue eyes describe with 
innocent delight how hundreds of Mexicans were slain, seemingly 



The Political Institution 41 

unaware that they too were human beings. How I wished to 
tell that boy, to those children, how in that battle other boys, 
almost of the same age and with similar childish faces and curly 
hlack hair, had died — died in the early spring of their lives when 
everything was love, hopes, and smiles for them! I wonder 
what reaction my story would have had in the frank and inno- 
cent hearts of those children? For myself, that was one of the 
most profitable lessons that I have ever "observed," although 
I confess that I did not see whether the "five formal steps" 
were properly placed. 

Do you not think that there are many other ways of inspir- 
ing patriotism and love for our own country? 

Military Drill. In connection with physical training in the 
school let us continue the military exercises as a special civic 
preparation. These exercises now come at regular class per- 
iods and are in charge of officers of the army. There are many 
qualities which develop with military duties whose possession 
the Latin pupils badly need. In a stern military training the 
people learn how to obey, the high sense of discipline. The 
sense of solidarity which manifests itself as fellow feeling, and 
a sentiment of duty and of comradeship, are so important in a 
democratic community, although at the beginning all these 
qualities are only skin deep, because they are the result of ex- 
ternal and compelling disciplinary measures. Nevertheless, as 
time passes, slowly, by an unconscious association of reflexes, 
this feeling of duty and discipline becomes an internal and habit- 
ual force which rarely fails to influence the conduct. However, 
the idea of the militarization of our schools should be cast aside. 
A regular military system in the school damages the cornerstone 
of a democracy which is the individuality and free development 
of opinions and actions. A complete military school system will 
be a sacrilege to democracy. For the masses military service is 
very necessary in Mexico. It is an element of education and a 
help to our national solidarity. Regarding the schools, there 
may be established special classes of military exercises, or ar- 
rangements should be made to go camping for a few weeks 
every school year, in order to carry out in those camps a 
military organization and training. 

Music. Every civilized nation has some songs that are called 
national. We have, too. It would be an excellent practice to 



42 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

teach and have our children sing those songs in the school. 
Here our national hymn must be sung, too, with the reverence 
and respect that is due to it. 

The Teacher and School Management. What should be the 
school spirit and policy in a democracy? It should be a spirit 
in which freedom and responsibility, right and duty to one's 
self and to the whole school should stand in prominent place 
in the pupil's minds and hearts. In the words of Irving Kingi'i 
"The pupils should be taught to participate in the government 
of the school as they afterwards must in the government of the 
community and State. The pupils should feel that they have a 
public duty in the school community as they will later have in 
the adult community. They should be carefully trained in school 
life to see their relations to law and order and their enforcement 
in the school, as they must later see them in adult life, if they 
do their duty as law-abiding and law-enforcing citizens." 
"Men," says Cooley, "are little to be stampeded in matters 
regarding which they have a trained habit of thought and 
action." 



" King, Social Aspects of Education, p. 291. 



CHAPTER III 

EDUCATION 

Its Development, Present Conditions, Needs, and Sug- 
gestions FOR ITS Improvement 

Indian Education 

The education of the Aztecs, like their government, was 
military and theocratic. The schools were annexed to the 
temples. Each teocalli or temple had a calmecac or school. 
There were two kinds of schools, one for the children of the 
aristocracy and the other for the common people. These 
popular schools were numerous and were located in almost 
every quarter in Mexico City. The children were received 
there at the age of four or five years, but officially the education 
began at six or nine years of age. Such education had a religious 
character; the boys were drilled in the routine of monastic disci- 
pline. There was, however, practical work to be done by the 
pupils. They had to sweep the temple and the school, decorate 
the shrines of the gods with flowers, feed the sacred fire, and go 
to the forest for wood for it. At twilight the pupils would all 
get together in the "singing room" and sing and dance. Some 
of the children slept in the sanctuary, where the women were 
not allowed to enter. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, the 
parents took their sons from the school to teach them some trade 
and hunting or fishing. 

The curriculum of these elementary schools was simple. 
They learned to read easy hieroglyphs and make them with 
small colored feathers. Counting was done mainly with ob- 
jects. 

The method was that of trial and error based upon imitation. 
Their methods of discipline were cruel. Terror was the spring 
of education with the Aztecs. The punishments were such as 
tying the boy's feet and hands for half a day, or leaving him on 
the street for one day naked, and with feet and hands tied. The 

43 



44 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

head of a noisy boy was put into a large earthen jar full of 
smoke.' 

In the schools for the nobles the curriculum was more elabor- 
ate. They were taught pictography, astronomy — science in 
which the Aztecs had a remarkable knowledge — the sacred 
hymns, and their laws also were taught to them. The nobles 
had literary education. Since they were destined to occupy 
public places and to be sent as ambassadors, they were trained 
to pronounce long speeches that were already made in an official 
style. There was no manual work to be performed by them 
and the disciplinary methods were less cruel, usually consisting 
in an increase of work upon the pupil and at the same time a 
decrease in allowance of food. 

At the age of fifteen the noble took the training in the use of 
weapons, and at twenty he went to his first campaign under 
the watchful eye of a veteran soldier. At the age of twenty-two, 
if he was not married, he was consecrated to the service of the 
gods, entering into the sacerdotal class. 

The moral education was embodied in precepts and practices 
in which there was a mixture of lofty and cruel features. => Here 
are some examples of the Aztecs' maxims: "Walk calmly, talk 
calmly, be modest in your dress and reserved in your manners." 
"Do not walk too fast or too slowly; the slow march has a pre- 
tentious air and the fast one, on the contrary, shows little calm 
and an uneasy spirit." — Sahagum. "Dieu a or ordonne que la 
femme fit usage de I'homme et reciproquement; mais il con- 
vient que cela pratique avec moderation . . . ne te jette pas 
sur la femme, comme le chien sur sa nourriture; n'imite pas cet 
animal dans sa manier d'avaler ce qu'on lui donne." — Letour- 
neau. — To the girls: "Avoid familiarity with men." "Live 
and stay in your own home." — Prescott.' 

Colonial Education 

The Conquerors could not take any interest in education; 
first, because in their nature, too full of love for adventure, there 
was little or no place at all for instruction, and, second, because 

1 See Lelourneau, Ch., L'Evolution de I'education. Chapter VII, " L'education dans I'Ancient 
Mexique." PrescoU, Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I, "Education of Youtli." p. 6i. Biart, 
Lucieu, Ttie Aztecs. Chapter XI, "Education — Public Schools." p. 213. 

2 See Biart, The Aztecs. Chapter XVII, "Ideographic Paintings and Feather Mosaics." 
p. 313. 

" The data for the Aztec education were taken mainly from Prescott, Conquest of Mexico. 
Vol. I. Letourneau, L'Evolution de L'Education. Sahagum, Historia de la Nueva Espafia. 



Education 45 

of their ignorance, they never paid attention to such a matter. 
It is told that Pizarro, the Conqueror of Peru, being asked by 
Atahualpam, "what have I written upon my finger?" Pizarro, 
after seeing the finger, answered, "I do not know," to which the 
astonished Inca King exclaimed, "Ah, barbarous, it is the name 
of your god, written on my nail by one of your soldiers." Piz- 
arro could not read. 

But the cause of civilization was not lost. Right behind the 
ignorant Conquerors came another type of men, who are the 
only white spots in this picture of blood and destruction. 
"Men,"^ said Parkman, "pale with the close breath of the 
cloister, here came to spend the noon and evening of their lives 
ruling savage tribes in a mild paternal way, and stood serene 
before the direst shapes of death. Men of courtly nurture, 
heirs to the polish of a far-reaching ancestry, here, with their 
dauntless hardihood, put to shame the boldest sons of toil." 
Such were the priests and monks who came to America to Christ- 
ianize the Indians. 

In 15 16, Cardinal Cisneros commanded all the vessels bound 
to America to carry at least one monk or priest. In 1562 the 
king ordered the same thing. Soon an army of Jesuits, Fran- 
ciscans, Dominicans, and other religious orders were doing a 
noble work in New Spain. In 1563, the king of Spain gave 
instructions to all these orders: "To establish the Indians in 
villages, to provide a schoolhouse in each village that the chil- 
dren might be taught reading, writing, and Christian doctrine, 
to make efforts to have the Indians marry their wives in due 
religious form, and to encourage the inter-marriage of some 
Christians with the Indians, both men and women. "^ 

In every village a church was built and beside it a school. 
"We took, ""5 writes Sahagum, "the children of the 'caciques' 
into our schools, where we taught them to read and write and 
chant. The children of the poor class or natives were brought 
together in our courtyard and were instructed in the Christian 
faith." 

The scanty popular education In the Colonial period assumed 
a pronounced religious character. The aim of such education 



*0p. cil.. p. s. 

'Fabie, Eusayo Historico, p. 52. 

'Sahagum, op. cit., p. 77. 



46 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

was political, to maintain, through the school, the people of the 
Colony under the temporal power of Spain. There was no well 
defined plan of organization and instructiono each priest working 
isolated in the way that he thought the best. 

The classical spirit of the Middle Ages animated the methods 
and curriculum of the Colonial schools. The instruction was 
dogmatic in its character. Obedience and routine were the 
rule of all actions and tradition their inspiration. There was no 
scientific freedom, as wide scientific studies would not help to 
keep the colonies submissive. 

The curriculum of the elementary schools was typical Middle 
Ages — the three R's, singing, and religious teaching. However, 
there were some exceptions to this poor curriculum. "Pedro 
de Gante founded," says the Mexican historian, Icazbalceta, 
"and conducted in the Indian quarter in Mexico a great school 
attended by over a thousand Indian boys, which combined in- 
struction in mechanical and the fine arts. In its workshops the 
boys were taught to be tailors, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoe- 
makers, and painters."^ "In the seminary under my charge," 
writes Pedro de Gante, "there are already six hundred pupils 
who know how to read, write, sing, and help in the divine office." 

The method of recitation is given by another priest. "After 
the roll call a teacher recited twice the lesson for the day in a 
loud voice and the natives repeated it after him," says father 
Mendieta. The discipline was formal and rigid. "La letra 
con sangre entra," was the familiar maxim. Patience and 
punishment were the arms of the teacher. "The Indians," 
says Gante, "are docile and of good disposition and inclined to 
receive our faith, but force and interest determine them to it 
more than siveetness and affection. '"^ 

The Jesuits led higher education, following, of course, the 
usual path of traditional orthodoxy. Nevertheless, there were 
at Mexico City many signs of progress and love of science, and 
in general the New Spain was by far more advanced than the 
English Colonies. I have often read that Harvard is the old- 
est university in America, but a little investigation shows that 
the University of Mexico was already old when Harvard was 
erected. I have also read that the first book printed in America 



' Icazbalceta, Obras I, p. 146. 
*Ibid., p. 176. 



Education 47 

was the Massachusetts Bay "Psahii Book" in 1637. There 
were no less than seven printing presses at work in Mexico dur- 
ing the sixteenth century, fully fifty years before the said book 
was issued.' 

"Not all the institutions of learning founded in Mexico,"^" 
writes Bourne, "in the sixteenth century can be enumerated 
here, but it is not too much to say that, in number, range of 
studies, and standard of attainments by the officers, they sur- 
passed anything existing in English America until the nine- 
teenth century. Mexican scholars made distinguished achieve- 
ments in some branches of science, particularly surgery, but 
pre-eminently linguistics, history, and anthropology. Dic- 
tionaries and grammars of the native languages are an imposing 
proof of their scholarly devotion and intellectual activity." 
Mr. Wash, formerly referred to, says, "American self-sufficiency 
from which we look down on the Latins, our thorough-going 
condescension of their ignorance and lack of worthiness, is all 
founded on our lack of real knowledge with regard to them." 
(P- 33I-) 

Mexico Independent 

With the political changes, French literature and philosophy 
overflowed the intellectual world in Mexico. Its influence upon 
the privileged classes was strong. The Spanish power had died 
and French domination had begun. But this intellectual ac- 
tivity did not go down to the popular school. 

The first conscious effort toward the organization of the ele- 
mentary school in Mexico was made by an Englishman, well 
known to any student of history of education, Lancaster. He 
came to Mexico in 1822 and, with his characteristic activity, 
opened a school in the building in whose halls the Inquisition 
had lived. His experiment attracted the attention of some well 
educated Mexicans, and a little later, January, 1823, they formed 
a society — La Compaiiia Lancasteriana — that had for its aim 
the diffusion of education among the people. In Article 2 of 
its Statutes, it is stated that "The object of the Company is to 
give free primary education to the children and poor classes by 
means of schools established at its expense."" 

' See Origins in American Education, by J. J. Wash, p. 320. 
1' Bourne, E., Tlie American Nation— Spain in America, Vol. III. 
" Reglamento de la Compafiia Lancasteriana de Mexico, Chap. I. 



48 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

Slowly and entirely under private initiative and effort the 
"Compania Lancasteriana " was extending its fields of action. 
Already Mexico was In the hands of the revolution and "we 
cannot," says an educator of those days, "make war and schools 
at the same time." In 1843, the Government gave the charge 
of the schools of the Federal District to the Lancaster Company. 
But as the Government did not have money, it did not help the 
Company to perform its task in any way. However, In that 
year there was a reorganization of the Lancaster Company and 
under the presidency of Jose Maria Teruel a campaign to acquire 
funds by popular subscription was started. The Company had 
then 1 3 10 schools under its charge. 

Methods and Curriculum. In Chapter X of the Statutes re- 
ferred to (1843) is written: "Art. 69 — The methods of teaching 
in the schools of this Company shall be the system 'mutual and 
simultaneous,' with the reforms that experience shall teach 
from time to time and the improvements in economy of time 
and short instruction that the popular primary instruction re- 
quires. 

"Art. 70 — In the schools for boys shall be taught reading, 
writing, and elementary arithmetic, the Castillian grammar, 
morals, and the catechism. 

"Art. 71 — In the schools for girls shall be taught reading, 
writing, and counting, the catechism of the Christian doctrine, the 
maxims of the good education and serving." (pages 16 and 17.) 

The chapter ends with the statement that there shall be ex- 
aminations for promotion of the pupils every month, and that 
a small sum of money shall be given as rewards to the more ad- 
vanced pupils. 

The shortcomings of the Lancaster School need not be dis- 
cussed here. The reading of Statutes shows plainly that those 
schools had the seal of the old educational formalism and were 
under the strong influence of the Church. The impulse of their 
founders was a noble one and accomplished its aims, which were 
to awaken interest for popular education in the Government and 
in the upper classes and to instruct as many as its resources al- 
lowed. Indeed, the Lancastrian School never had any peda- 
gogical pretentions. Its end was, in Mexico, as it was in Eng- 
land, to educate the greatest number with the least expenditure 
of money and time. Its monitorial system was recommended 
more for economical than for pedagogical reasons. 



Education 49 

The influence of the Lancaster School in Mexico was pro- 
found, and even to-day there are many country schools in which 
the old monitorial system is practiced in a true Lancasterian 
fashion and for many a little community an ideal school build- 
ing is a house with one lonely but spacious hall, which was char- 
acteristic of the Lancasterian Schools. 

After the war with United States in 1847, a reaction took 
place among the educated class. In our war with France the 
Mexican patriotism was stirred and unified. The American 
Intervention left a deep mark on the hearts of thinking Mexi- 
cans. We were defeated, but not for lack of patriotism and 
courage. There were plenty of proofs that Mexicans knew how 
to die for their Country. "The constancy with which the 
Mexican infantry, "'^ g^yg General Taylor, "sustained this severe 
cannonade was the theme of universal remark and admiration." 
" The private Mexican soldier,"" says Grant, "was poorly clothed, 
worse fed, and seldom paid. With all this I have seen as brave 
stands made by these men as I have ever seen made by soldiers.'' 
Later he adds, "The Mexicans have shown a patriotism which 
it would be well if we would imitate in part, with more regard 
for truth." What was, then, the cause of our defeats? It was 
mainly ignorance, lack of organization in effort and will. The 
body of men that formed the invading forces was united, acted 
consciously, and with a spirit of co-operation and "teamwork" 
that was for us a revelation. 

Yet, the Government was too busy with revolutions to pay any 
attention to the schools. Again private initiative manifested 
itself and in 1851, out of 122 elementary schools in Mexico City 
with 7636 pupils, only four schools with 488 pupils belonged to 
the Government; two with 150 pupils belonged to the convents, 
and 116 schools with 6955 children were of private initiative. 
What a noble example for the present generation to imitate! 
It is a fact worth while noting that Mexico is the only Latin- 
American nation in which the beginning of popular education 
was due mainly to private initiative." 



"Taylor, Z., The Battles of the Rio Grande, 

1' Personal Memories of U. S. Grant, pp. i68, 169. 

" In the majority of the Spanish American Republics, public education is and has been in 
the hands of the Church or of the Government. (See Historia de la Instruceion Primaria En 
la Republica Argentina, Chapter VII, "La accion nacional y la provincial en la Escuela," 
p. III. 



50 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

It was not until 1867 that an organized effort was made to 
build up a school system. It was under Juarez's administra- 
tion — it is always he — that a law was enacted making popular 
education compulsory, free, and secular. 

At last the school could get out of the hands of the Church. 
The State and the Church were separated and the school was 
made free. Honor to the men who accomplished such a task! 
Honor to the men who wrote the name of Mexico at the head 
of the list of liberal Latin Countriesl However, this honor cost 
us three years of cruel war. My poor country has bought dearly 
every bit of her progress! 

The Government took charge of the public education and men 
of great ability and wisdom, like Covarrubias, Ramirez, Tagle, 
and Barreda, undertook the work of makjng a body of laws, to 
regulate the new-born educational system. 

The ideals of the new school changed a great deal. Before, 
the task of the popular schools was to make good Catholics; now 
its aspiration was to produce fine Mexicans, better men. The 
methods changed little, since there was the same lack of trained 
teachers and no normal schools to educate such teachers. In 
the curriculum, besides the three R's, we find new subjects, such 
as the metric system, physics and chemistry, geometry, geog- 
raphy, history, and civics, which show clearly the ideas that 
animated the new educational policy. But public education 
dragged along painfully. There was no money, and few pro- 
fessional educators. 

Later on, under the iron hand of Diaz, "the epilepsy of anar- 
chic ambitions" died away, and blessed peace came at last. 
The Government could afford more attention and money for 
the schools. 

The need for schools to train teachers was felt more than 
before. It was good fortune that brought to Mexico, at "this 
psychological moment," two German educators with sound and 
modern pedagogical knowledge, with youth and love for their 
profession, and — what was perhaps most valuable of all— with a 
remarkable ability and tact for dealing with our people. They 
were Enrique Luabscher and Enrique Rebsamen. In February, 
1883, they founded a private school, a Model School in Ori- 
zaba, a city of the State of Vera Cruz. Their work was readily 
appreciated, and very soon, from all parts of the country, teach- 



Education 51 

ers were coming to see and to learn the new methods of teach- 
ing. The Model School was turned into a school for teach- 
ers.. Luabscher translated from the German some of the most 
popular of Froebel's pedagogical literature. He also published 
an educational paper, The School Teacher. To understand the 
extent of the influence of Luabscher it is enough to know that 
he was General Superintendent of Schools in the northern State 
of Chichuahua, Principal of the Normal School in the State of 
Oaxaca, and was inaugurating his educational activities in the 
Federal District when he died. His colleague and friend, En- 
rique Rebsamen, undoubtedly has had a stronger influence than 
he. Rebsamen is the father of the modern Normal School in 
Mexico. He was called from the Model School at Orizaba 
to the capital of the State, and there, in the beautiful city of 
Jalapa, with the unconditional help of the progressive Governor 
of the State, he founded a Normal School that is now famous 
in the educational annals of Mexico. Rebsamen displayed, in 
that school, his fine qualities as an educator. For more than a 
decade the teachers that came from that school were sent, 
under urgent appeals from the respective governments of the 
States, throughout the whole republic, to organize the school 
systems, to found Normal Schools, etc.'^ The educational 
publication of the Normal School of Jalapa, El Mexico Intel- 
lectual, was the leading pedagogical paper of the country. Reb- 
samen himself was called by General Diaz to Mexico City. 
Conscious of the honor bestowed upon him, he consented to 
leave his school, which he loved so dearly and which no previous 
offer of any kind could make him leave. 

Enrique Rebsamen contributed more than anyone else to form 
a body of educational theories, mostly of Herbarian origin, to 
direct our school practices, until that time merely empirics. 
The Normal School of Puebla, founded in 1881, and the Normal 
School of Mexico, founded in 1887, were in some measure also 
contributors, but none had the influence of the school of Jalapa. 
To-day there is a normal school in the capital of each State, and 
the German pedagogy is familiar to most of them. There were 



'^ Some of the Normal Schools established by Rebsamen's pupils are the Normal School of 
Oaxaca, established by A. Castellanos; the Normal School of Guanajuato, established by 
Enrique Paniagua; the Normal School of Chihuahua, established by F. Reyes and Alconedo; 
the Normal School of Tabasco, established by H. Gil; and several others I cannot remember 
just now. 



52 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

some Mexicans too among the pioneers of educational theory, 
such as Carrillo and Flores. In the National Congress of Educa- 
tion, held in 1889 and 1890 at Mexico City, in which every 
State of the Republic was represented, for the first time it was 
shown that the country had at last real educators. For the 
first time also, in Mexico, educational practice and legislation 
were discussed according to sound principles of psychology and 
philosophy of education. For the first time Mexico, as a nation, 
took up her problems of education and thought about and dis- 
cussed them. 

In the school laws enacted in 1900 there were evidences of 
the activities just referred to. According to these laws, "the^^ 
Instruccion Primaria shall be divided into Elemental Education 
(four years) and Superior Education (two years) ; Supplementary 
Schools shall be created, to give elemental instruction to those 
individuals who have not got it, during school age, and, to com- 
plete or extend the work of these schools. Complementary Schools 
shall be erected to give some technical knowledge to the work- 
man." 

The aim of the education shall be "First, Physical Education, 
to fortify the body and to procure its perfect development; 
second. Intellectual Education, to invigorate the intelligence and 
give to the pupils knowledge that is indispensable; third. Moral 
Education, which tends to perfect the individuals, making them 
noble and useful to the community. In this way shall be united 
in a person knowledge, kindness, and health. "i' In the cur- 
riculum besides the three R's other new subjects are found, 
such as civic instruction, drawing, nature-study, gj^mnastics, 
military exercises, and singing. In the Superior School (gram- 
mar), French and English, natural history, physiology, hygiene, 
and notions of political economy, manual work for boys and 
domestic labors for girls. 

Method: "The teachings must be essentially practical. The 
lessons in the sciences shall be given by means of presenting 
phenomena themselves, by means of experiments, or the proper 
objects if possible. The class must be oral. Daily work shall 
be six hours and each class period of forty-five minutes. Thurs- 
days shall be devoted to excursions to get specimens to make 



" La Noticia del Ministerio de Educacion, Mexico, 1900; p. 2. 
" Op. cit., p. 7. 



Education 53 

collections, to visit factories, mines, agricultural establishments, 
and historical places and monuments." "No corporal or de- 
grading punishments shall be allowed." The whole educational 
system of the District and the Territories is in charge of the 
Minister of Education in the Federal District and is run under 
the technical direction of a General Director of Public Educa- 
tion and a stafif of superintendents and medical inspectors. 
There is, too, a "Council of Vigilance," formed by citizens to 
enforce this compulsory attendance of pupils and to fine the 
parents who fail to comply with the said law. 

Statistics: The number of schools at that time in the Federal 
District under the supervision of the Government was: 

Official Schools in the Federal District and Territories 454 with 55,732 pupils 

Private Schools 66 with 4,432 pupils 

Catholic Church Schools 15 with 2,544 pnpils 

Schools of other denominations 14 with 833 pupils 

Total 549 with 63,541 pupils^^ 

The school budget in 1900 was $875,634.40. 

All the data given here and the quotations were obtained from 
the "Brief Notice of the Public Education in Mexico" sent to 
the Paris Exposition in 1900 by the Minister of Education. 

Present School Conditions 

Since 1900, the school system and, in general, the cause of 
education have made great progress. In 1900 the Secretary of 
Public Education was also the Secretary of Justice. Later the 
Minister of Public Education was made a separate office, and 
at the head of this important post a man of great ability, wis- 
dom, and love for the cause of the education was placed. Don 
Justo Sierra is the founder of the modern educational system 
of Mexico. He surrounded himself with men of high records in 
the educational field, such as Rebsamen, Chavez, Flores, and 
placed each one in his special line of work. Sierra reorganized 
the National University and brought to Mexico professors from 
Europe, as Dr. H. Keller, of Berlin, and the United States. 
Among those called from this country were Professor F. Boas, 
of Columbia University, Dr. L. Rowe, of Philadelphia, and the 

's Total school population of the Federal District and Territories was estimated (igoo's 
Census) as 149,270! 



54 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

psychologist, Dr. W. M. Baldwin. The Minister, J. Sierra, 
raised the salaries of all schoolteachers according to their scholar- 
ship and established pensions of retirement for them.^o j|g gg^^ 
young men to study education in Europe and the United States. 
At the end of the school year of 1910-11, the school budget for 
the Federal District and Territories was raised from little less 
than one million in 1900 to $4,010,426! There were 72 school 
inspectors, 534 Elemental Schools, 5 Kindergartens, 46 Superior 
(Grammar Schools), and 44 Supplementary Schools (Night 
Schools) for workmen who have not completed their elementary 
education. There were also "Complementary Schools to give 
some technical and useful knowledge to the laborers, clerks, and 
tradesmen" — a kind of Continuation School. A School of Com- 
merce for men and another for women were erected and three 
Primary Industrial Schools began to function. The Primary 
Education Department published a magazine of education, the 
Normal School Department had another magazine to discuss 
subjects relating to its line of activities, and the Minister edited 
a Bulletin of Education. 

The pedagogical insight that animated this educational 
"renaissance" in Mexico is best shown by the spirit of its legis- 
lation. In the first Article of the Law of Primary Education, 
given the 15th of August, 1908, it is stated that "The Official 
Primary Schools shall be essentially educative; the instruction 
in them shall be considered only as a means to education."" 

"Art. Second — ^The Primary Education shall be National, 
that is, it shall aim to develop in all the children a love for the' 
Mother Country and its institutions; its purpose shall be to 
contribute to her progress and the betterment of her inhabit- 
ants. It shall be integral, that is, shall tend to produce simul- 
taneously in the pupils the moral, physical, intellectual, and 
esthetic development. It shall be laic, that is, shall be neutral 
regarding all religious beliefs and abstain itself, therefore, from 
teaching, defending, or attacking any of them. The primary 
education shall be, besides, free." 

Regarding the curriculum, few changes were made in the list 
of subjects that constituted it. The changes were mainly in the 



"See Anuarios Escolares, Art. 21, p. 15. 

^ Art. la Las Escuelas oficiales primarias sgran esencialmente educativas; la instruccion, 
en ellas se considerara solo como un medio de Educacion," p. 5. 



Education 55 

new point of view and method with which some subjects should 
be presented. In geography, for instance, it is recommended 
that the productions of the country shall be predominant in 
the mind of the teachers, rather than the names and location of 
hundreds of dry names. The history must be developed bio- 
graphically in the first school grades, etc., etc. In Article 9 it 
is stated that, "There shall be established in the schools, or 
where it is more convenient, (a) Playgrounds, (b) Bath houses, 
(c) Workshops for manual and industrial work, (d) Fields of 
cultivation for agricultural studies, and (e) Household arts 
laboratories where the girls may study domestic economy in 
its relations to home hygiene, cooking, and washing."" 

The elementary education was extended to another year, 
making it five years instead of four, the school age being from 
six to fourteen years. "The failure of the parents to send their 
children to school shall be punished with a fine not exceeding 
$500 or imprisonment not exceeding a month." The local 
authorities have the duty of enforcing this law and inflicting 
these penalties. "The said authorities shall make it easy for 
the pupils to go to school, giving them assistance in form of 
transportation and even helping the children with food and 
clothes when such measure is indispensable for the regular at- 
tendance at school." 

In Article 16 it is stated that "The executive shall establish 
special schools and special teachers for children of deficient 
physical, intellectual, or moral development.'' 

Such are, in brief outline, the school laws that were enacted 
by the Diaz Administration, under the inspiration of the Min- 
ister of Public Education, Justo Sierra, on August 15, 1908 — 
almost on the eve of the Revolution. All the given extracts of 
laws and data regarding the number of schools, etc., were taken 
from the "School Annal of the Secretary of Public Instruction 
— Primary Education, 1910-1911, Mexico."" 

I was disappointed not to find in the School Annals, or any- 
where else, statistics referring to the school enrollment and at- 
tendance during the years of 1910 and 191 1. I asked for in- 



22 With exception of the establishment of bath houses and fields for cultivation and agricul- 
tural studies; all other reforms were carried out, mostly in our "Superior Schools" (Grammar). 

25 Anuarios Escolares de la Secretaria de Instruccion Publica y Bellas Artes — Education 
Primaria, Mexico, igoo-ii. 



56 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

formation from Mexico, and received some copies of the official 
paper El Diario Oficial, in which some statistics of the kind that 
I wanted were to be found. Such statistics were, however, of 
more recent date (1912-13) and, although scanty, they are a 
revelation, because they show that, in spite of the turmoil and 
war that is raging over the country, still the work of education is 
going on and some faithful still keep the sacred fire burning in 
the temple of Athena. 

School Enrollment in the Federal District and Territories for the 
Academic Year 1912-1913 

Pupils 

Elementary and Superior Schools 100,027 

Kindergarten Schools 1.653 

Private Schools 8,062 

Trades and Commercial Schools 3.078 

Complementary and Special Schools for workmen (mostly night 

schools) 11,891 

Supplementary Schools (night schools) 9.130 

Total enrollment 133.831** 

The school budget for 1912-1913 was $5,630,383.09. 

During the last decade the Government began to realize the 
importance of education. This is clearly shown by a simple 
comparison : 

In 1900, the school enrollment was 63,541 pupils 

In 1912, in the midst of the Revolution, it was 133.831 pupils 

In 1900, when everything was prosperous, the school budget was $875,634.40 
In 1912, when all was ruin and destruction, the school budget 
was $5.630,383-09 

So far, I have treated only the educational activities in the 
Federal District and the Territories under the direct control of 
the Federal Government. But the Mexican Republic is com- 
posed of twenty-seven independent states, in which the educa- 
tional policy is a local affair. Most of them copy or try to imi- 
tate the Central Government, thus giving certain uniformity to 
the educational system in the Republic. Nevertheless, those 
states are too handicapped by the lack of money and expert direc- 

>• There are no data available regarding the total school population in 1912-13. 



Education 



57 



tion to accomplish much. Therefore, the illiteracy in the whole 
Mexican Republic is appalling. In the last decade progress has 
been made in the school crusade, but, unhappily, there are no 
statistics by which to judge clearly such progress. In order to 
give an eloquent idea of the immensity of the problem of educa- 
tion in Mexico, I am going to close this informational part of 
my work with a statistical table — the dry and significant elo- 
quence of the numbers — showing the illiteracy in Mexico, taken 
from the Census of 1900. 

TABLE I 



Persons 12 Years of Age or Over Who Can 
Neither Read or Write 


Persons Less than 12 

Years Who Can Neither 

Read nor Write 


Sections 


Male 


Female 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Total 


Central States 

Northern States 

Gulf States 


^ .457,276 
245,021 
398.532 

1,019,115 


1,771.591 

250,555 
465,619 

1,176,915 


3,228,867 

495.573 

864,151 

2,196,030 


874.743 
186,938 
306,718 
750,444 


837.445 
176,849 
284,638 
711.367 


1,712,188 
363.787 
591.356 


Pacific Coast States . . 


1,461,811 


Total 


3,119,944 


3,664,680 


6,784,621 


2,010,293 


2,010,299 


4,129,142 









Persons Concerning Whom Information 
Could Not be Obtained 


Persons Who Can Read 
AND Write 


Sections 


Male 


Female 


Total 


Male 


Female 


Total 


Central States 

Northern States 

Gulf States 


57,861 

1.554 

556 

16,457 


67.598 

2,011 

506 

19.449 


125,002 

3.578 

1,062 

35.906 


601,147 

158.379 
164,873 
348.926 


401.545 
129,398 
115,214 
260,106 


1,002,692 

287,777 
280,080 


Pacific Coast States. . 


609,032 


Total 


76,438 


89,564 


165,645 


1.273.325 


906,263 


2,179.581 



58 



Mexico: Its Educational Problems 
RESUME 



Sections 


Inhabitants 


Persons Who Can 
Read and Write 


Central States 


6,239,038 

1. 174.341 
1,756,006 

4.437.874 




1,002,692 


Northern States 


207,777 


Gulf States 


280,087 


Pacific Coast States 


6oq,0'?2 






Total 


13,607,259 


2,179,588 







In order to give an idea of the progress that has been made 
in the educational campaign for the last decade, I have pre- 
sented some statistical data from the Federal District. To ac- 
complish the same with the rest of the Republic, I am giving 
the Statistics of Elementary Schools for the period of 1874- 
1907, which were gathered by the Minister of Public Education 
in Mexico City. This is the only available material that was 
found for this purpose: 



Education 



59 



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60 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

Needs of the Mexican Schools 

Regarding the educational policy in general: The statistics 
given elsewhere in this work, in connection with the illiteracy 
in Mexico, are a vivid proof that the most pressing need of the 
nation is the speedy education of its ignorant masses. Mexico 
is anxious for schools, many schools, under competent technical 
direction. Some states are able to take care of themselves, 
such as Puebla, Vera Cruz, Jalisco; they are commercial or in- 
dustrial states and are financially able to carry out a vigorous 
educational policy. But the great majority of the states of the 
Republic are unable to do so. The majority of their inhabitants 
are engaged in agriculture, working as simple laborers, and 
usually poorly paid. The school funds are collected by personal 
taxation; each individual gives a few cents. The lands do not 
pay school taxes. Most of these states are thinly populated; 
so the school fund is very small. On the other hand, the Federal 
Government is usually strong financially, has better schools to 
train teachers, and at the head of the department of Public 
Education in the Federal District are educators of experience 
and culture. Therefore, the nationalization of the system of 
primary education, organized, supervised, and partly controlled 
by the Federal Government should be the first step of the nation- 
al educational policy in Mexico. 

For the Indian schools the absolute control by the Federal 
Government is necessary; but, for a great system of national 
primary education, only part of the authority and control should 
be under the Central Government. The parents should have 
the right to see how their children are educated and, since the 
people of the town must also help in the sustenance of the school, 
they have the right to see how their money is spent. So the 
local authorities and the people of the community should feel 
and actually have responsibilities and rights regarding their 
local school policy. The Federal Government should help 
financially and encourage professionally, but should not take 
care of the school entirely. The people must have an interest 
in their school and it is natural to take more interest in that 
which is costing us. 

The Federal Government shall be in a position to exercise 
and make felt its influence, mostly through technical supervision 



Education 61 

and professional advice, keeping In mind that thoughtful sug- 
gestions are often more effective than sharp commands. For 
the teachers and pupils, the Central Federal Office will be a 
source of inspiration, by bringing to them the best pedagogical 
literature and school materials. One of the dangers of a cen- 
tralized system of education is that it tends to kill the person- 
ality and initiative of the teacher and pupils, when too many 
orders are given, when everything must be done according to 
prescribed regulations. The Federal superintendent has many 
chances to foster the initiative of his teachers; for instance, by 
giving them the minimum of provisions instead of the maxi- 
mum, thus leaving an open field to exercise their personality. 
If the teachers know that they have voice and vote in their 
schools and are not merely parts of a machinery, their work 
will improve and their co-operation will be sincere. 

The territory of the Republic is so extensive and the interests 
and activities in the different states so different that the courses 
of study necessarily should be different. Each state might have 
its own textbooks and adequate materials, according to the 
local needs and conditions. 

But there is one thing in which uniformity is a requisite 
which should be kept in the foreground in planning a great 
national system of education. Every pupil must come out of 
his school, no matter where it is located, a real Mexican. Every 
pupil should have the consciousness of the national territory and 
fondly keep the same national ideals of historic solidarity, the 
same love for the national literature. There should be uni- 
formity in ideals of patriotism and devotion to the Af other Country, 
so that the child from the Pacific Coast can feel the same thrill 
before the Mexican flag as the child from the Gulf Coast. 

The direction of such a great school system is a difficult task, 
but a level-headed, thoroughly trained, and professional edu- 
cator at the wheel is enough to insure the success in the work 
of the whole educational system. One of the defects of the 
schools in Mexico is that the amateurs in education, or dilet- 
tantes in pedagogy, have often been the heads of the schools 
and of the high educational offices. 

In the United States, where the States are so jealous of their 
local independence, there is a growing feeling among the lead- 
ing educators that the educational centralization, at least of 



62 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

some type of educational institutions such as vocational schools, 
is becoming necessary. 

The school policy and educational officers must keep out of 
politics. The directing heads and superintendents in the De- 
partment of Education should owe their positions to their pro- 
fessional training and personal character and ability and not to 
political favors. These employees should be protected by 
adequate laws, so as to feel easy and free in their tasks and be 
able to put all their energies and minds upon them. Incompe- 
tency and negligence should be the reasons for their removal. 
No one puts his whole soul into his work if he knows that per- 
haps tomorrow he and his efforts will be carried away in the 
oblivion of a political change. In a huge national centralized 
school system, lack of stability in educational policy of the 
Federal Government is a calamity. The technical direction of 
educational affairs, therefore, should not be changed with ins 
and outs in politics. 

The School 

Some ideas have been given already of the modern conception 
of education and the function of the school; however, it is well 
to add a few statements regarding the schools in Mexico. In 
the eagerness to have modern schools, there is in Mexico a kind 
of mania of imitation, trying to do what is being done in the 
schools of Europe or the United States, thus overlooking the 
needs of Mexico's own national education. Our first duty is to 
make our course of study national, our didactic material 
Mexican; in one word, to make our schools ours. There is, no 
doubt, a good and noble idea in this "mania" to do what is 
being done in the best schools, but, as Dr. Dewey says, "A work- 
ing model is not something to be copied ; it is to afford a demon- 
stration of the feasibility of the principle and of the methods 
which make it feasible. '' Indeed, the Mexican teachers must 
study, observe, and profit from the experiences of other educa- 
tors. It is one of the blessings of civilization, to be able to share 
the successful experiences of the advanced nations. But they 
must assimilate those experiences and make them their own 
"flesh" as the Englishman does the sweetmeat of the sheep of 
the Argentine pampas. If they know the ideals of a modern 
school, the absurdity of some of their school activities will be 
evident. 



Education 63 

The school life and work should reflect the activities of the 
community. The schools act "as agencies to bring home to 
the child some of the primal necessities of the community," says 
Dr. Dewey, or, he adds, "as instrumentalities through which 
the school itself shall be made a genuine form of active com- 
munity life instead of a place set apart in which to learn lessons." 

The greatest need of the Mexican schools is to bring them 
close to the people of the community, not only from the point 
of view of their occupations, but from the social side too. The 
relations between the school and the home have been practically 
nil. The press and the public must be interested in the school 
through its social activities. The ideals that the child gets at 
the school are unknown to the family and ignored by all, out- 
side of the school walls. The Mexican school has been an 
"island of knowledge," mainly engaged "in training the mind, 
in disciplining the faculties, in making perception and reason 
keener^ The doctrine of formal discipline in its full meaning, 
never has had a better home! 

The excellent criticism that Dr. George Kerschensteiner, 
Superintendent of Schools in Munich, makes of the school can 
be very well applied to our own Mexican schools." "During 
the period of elementary school age, as in his previous childhood 
years, the pupil is by no means disposed merely to listen and 
passively to take in the knowledge of others. The tendencies 
of the human being at this period are toward work, occupation, 
doing, testing, experimenting, personal experience, in order to 
learn incessantly through the medium of actuality. The chil- 
dren are all initiative. They discover new fields for the in- 
dulgence of their desire for occupation and forget all the world 
in its exercise. Ninety per cent of them, in spite of every effort 
of book education, prefer by far any practical occupation to 
silent abstract thought and reflection. Only when other peoples' 
knowledge contributes to success in their efforts do they prick 
up their ears to listen; then they devour books! In the work- 
shop and in the kitchen, in the garden and in the field, in the 
stable and in the fishing boat, they are ever ready to work. 
These hundreds of accomplishments are developed and appre- 
hended by the unconscious muscular sense; there they feel, 

'•Thi3 quotation was taken from a translation made in the Report of Commissioner of 
Education, 1909. Vol. I. 



64 Mexico: Its Educational Proble^ns 

above all, the pulsations of social life in their own activities. 
There they become conscious of the relations which the com- 
munity life establishes between persons, and of the dependence 
of the smaller upon the greater, as well as of the greater upon 
the smaller . . . . ! 

"And now the school opens its doors. Gone is every occupa- 
tion that had engaged the whole child; gone are the activities 
of home, of workshop, of kitchen, of stable, of garden, of field. 
Gone are all digging, building, making, every activity — gone 
the whole world of the child. A new world, world with a hun- 
dred riddles and incomprehensible demands and purposes, stands 
before him. Instead of sand pile, the building blocks, the 
hammer, the whip — slate, pencil, primer, ruler, instead of merry 
chatting and romancing — silence and listening, instead of merry 
bustle in road and street — sitting still and holding fast, instead 
of common enterprise under freely chosen leaders — solidarity, 
prescribed tasks, instead of helping the weak neighbor — deliber- 
ate isolation that he may not copy. Is it surprising if the little 
ones at first stand aghast and feel lost, if they become reticent 
instead of open minded, if their thoughts roam far away beyond 
the four walls of the schoolroom in spite of the best intentions, 
in spite of admonitions and punishments?" 

I close the subject of the school, leaving in the mind the 
above quotation, that speaks volumes of sane pedagogy and is 
so rich in valuable suggestions regarding the activities of the 
school. 

The Teacher 

The teaching profession needs love and affection as well as 
professional knowledge. To feel affection for the children and to 
be able to follow or lead them sympathetically in their wander- 
ings for "sweetness and light," is one of the conditions of a good 
teacher. There is another indispensable requisite that in our 
days the successful teacher must have — knowledge, professional 
and general. To teach well, the teacher must know well. This 
is a point that should be treated in connection with the Mexican 
teachers. There is no need to emphasize here the obvious im- 
portance of a teacher clean in body and mind and heart, whose 
manners, character, and whole personality should be an at- 
tractive example for the pupils to imitate, in whose serene and 



Education 65 

fatherly eyes the children can see themselves with respectful 
delight, and think, longingly, "If I could only be like him!" 
When this reaction has been accomplished, half of the battle 
has been won; and I am tempted to say that the whole battle 
has been won! The spiritual union of the pupil and the teacher 
is completed. 

But to return to the problem of knowledge in relation to the 
Mexican teachers. The majority of my colleagues in Mexico 
must agree with this charge that I am going to make against the 
Mexican teachers. That is, that the ninety per cent of them 
lack the ambition for better training. The great majority of 
the teachers, as soon as they leave the normal school, if they 
have been in any, never touch again a book of psychology or 
pedagogy or even a magazine of education. The scanty knowl- 
edge that they got in their student days remains the only bag- 
gage for their professional work throughout life. It is unneces- 
sary for me to tell the result of such attitude in our educational 
work. 

Even the teachers who have had normal school training, 
what do they know when they leave the normal school? Little 
of everything and nothing well. They have these advantages 
over the "empirical" teachers. They possess that "pedantry 
which shields ignorance from exposure," and are "experts in 
the art of seeming wise with empty minds." 

The fault is mostly, of course, in the schools; although there 
are and have been in the faculties men of great erudition and 
knowledge, the majority of them are not educators and very 
few know anything about the science of education and under- 
stand its practice. A great many of the "professors" are the 
debris of other professions or have failed in their business and 
have taken refuge in a school. Their ability and scholarship 
are evidenced in the form of a "letter of introduction" from 
some political influence, that it is often wise to acknowledge. 
So a fine morning they find themselves teaching a subject which 
they hardly know! Of course, they hastily read a few books 
on the subject, try to look wise, and hide their ignorance with 
empty phraseology, of which the Latin peoples are so fond. 
Finally, acting upon the belief that every man has instinctively 
a little of the teacher in him, such "professors" end by think- 
ing themselves real teachers. 



66 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

In education, the theory should always be the scientific side 
of the practice; the scientific theory should be mostly the prac- 
tice condensed and crystallized. How can some of those pro- 
fessors, who never have seen a schoolroom since their childhood, 
be anything but failures in preparing efficient school teachers? 

Mexico has some excellent modern normal schools, with an 
up-to-date equipment. Dr. L. Rowe says in his report on edu- 
cation in Mexico that "the Normal School of Mexico City is 
thoroughly equipped and modern in every respect."" There is 
something more; there are plenty of scholarships for the young 
students who care to study in the normal schools. But the 
teachings in these schools are almost "metaphysical," in which 
there "are definitions of human faculties, old theories of mind 
inherited from the pedagogic fathers." As G. Stanley Hall 
says, "The departments of human knowledge are classified, 
correlated, co-ordinated, and educational value is discussed in 
an abstract way, with an aloofness for detailed externality that 
is an anachronism in a concrete age, while the cult of Herbart 
and Froebel flourishes as a finality instead of a prologue to a 
great drama now well on its first act.^^ 

The remedies for these evils are: first of all, the establishment 
of a higher normal school or teachers' college to train professors. 
In such a school, of course, there must be departments of all 
branches of education to form specialists, such as a department 
of educational psychology, another of history and philosophy of 
education, another of school administration, etc. Each depart- 
ment must be under the head of an able staff of assistants. 
Second, to modify our normal school curriculum and make it 
more professional, so the teachers will know by theory and 
personal observation something about play, habit, imitation, 
environmental influences, heredity, evolution, juvenile ab- 
normalities, etc., and perhaps less about Froebel's symbolic 
pedagogical philosophy or Pestalozzi's educational lyricisms. 
Indeed, it is more useful for the teachers to know what the 
Mexican Indians beyond the hills do and need than to spend 
much time to become familiar with what a Spartan boy did two 
thousand years ago. Third, the educational authorities should 
promote summer schools and teachers' institutes, educational 



"Educational Report, igii, p. 
" Adolescence, Vol. II, p. 496. 



Education 67 

lectures by specialists, national educational conventions; en- 
courage pedagogical literature; reward scholarship systematic- 
ally; and establish examinations for promotions. The prin- 
cipals of the schools and superintendents should keep their teach- 
ers alive professionally by grade meetings of teachers of ad- 
jacent grades, subject meetings, round table meetings, classes 
for definite instruction, exhibitions of work, visiting days, etc. 
It would be a surprise to many Mexican teachers to know that 
in my graduate courses in this University I have, just now, 
several classmates over fifty years of age, and many around the 
forties, and this year is not an exception, nor is this college in 
this respect. 

Curriculum 

There are two sides to be considered regarding the arrange- 
ment of the courses of study, the social and the psychological. 
From the social point of view, the needs and standards of the 
community should give the key for the selection of materials, 
which shall be in accordance with the current social conditions. 
Utility in its broadest, ethical, aesthetic and material senses 
shall be the ultimate end. From the psychological point of 
view, the range of activities must be considered; the individual 
whose growth is going to be stimulated should be taken into 
account. From the social side, the interest is centered in the 
body of knowledge to be acquired, to put the pupils in close 
relation with the social, economic, and ethical conditions of their 
community, and here in its broad outlines the course of study 
should be mandatory. From the psychological side, the work in 
the school shall be taken "as method of life" and according to 
the varying capacities of the children. Here the course of 
study shall be suggestive as to details, methods, and materials. 
Of course, both sides melt into each other. In nature nothing 
stands alone; everything in life is correlated: so, if we want the 
school to be an epitome of life, the courses of study, as well as 
the activities springing from them, should be related. 

Applying the above discussion to the conditions in Mexico, 
I should say that the broad policy in selecting the subject matter 
must have as its aim to increase the earning capacity of the 
ignorant Mexican masses, as a necessary condition to raise them 
in their ideals of life. In the present epoch, nobody has culture 



68 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

who does not know how to work. In the rural community, where 
the only chance of learning something is to be had in the short 
school life, the pupil should get there some "vocational hints," 
which will enable him to develop later by himself an increasing 
efficiency to earn his living. These vocational suggestions must 
tend to improve the agriculture labor and methods in the rural 
schools and emphasize the industrial side in the urban schools. 
Regarding the method, considering the training of the majority 
of the Mexican teachers, the conclusion as to their methods can 
easily be drawn. Yes, the Mexican teachers in Mexico have 
also the mania to ask the children to reason everything; they 
have, too, the obsession for formal steps, and "analysis" of 
processes that the child should never analyze. They have the 
"madness" of over-explanations! "The soul," says Stanley 
Hall, protesting against this over-care regarding methods, so- 
called rational or logical, "naturally storms its way to the cen- 
ter of things with a rapid impetuosity, but the methodaster and 
macerator blunts the intuitions, the best thing in youth drags down 
thoughts that fly and makes them 'crawl at a slow, senescent 
pace.'" 

Furthermore, the Mexican schools have almost entirely 
abolished text-books — with the exception of those in language. 
The classes are oral, that is, we have, too, "the passion for 
oral instruction that carried to excess forces the children to 
listen to so many vain words constantly forgotten and distorted 
and often not worth remembering!" " Is not reading," asks Dr. 
Steege, "the surest means of acquiring the indispensable ele- 
ments of history, science, reading, and grammar? Because the 
book was formerly abused by making it a mere instrument of 
mechanical reading, it should not be to-day discarded as useless. 
Books speak a language more precise, reliable, profound, and 
more moving than the majority of teachers. They contain the 
treasure of knowledge and experience acquired by the human 
race. It is not pretended that this intellectual and moral 
treasure can be imparted to every pupil, but it is possible to 
give everyone the key to it, to make it familiar to him, and to 
excite his interest in it. Then, when he leaves school, although 
he may forget much that he has learned there, he will have a 
taste for study and will possess the essential means of learn- 
ing." (Educational Report, 1909, p. 414.) 



CHAPTER IV 



NATIONAL CHARACTER 



The individuals of a well-constituted society have a soul, a 
character, that distinguish them from the individuals of other 
societies. The combined influences of language, customs, and 
traditions make a Frenchman different from an Englishman or 
a German. A homogeneity in race and culture gives to the 
French people, already forming a political body, a national 
character. 

Has Mexico a national character? 

"Wherever a community," says Bryce, "has both political 
independence and a distinctive character recognizable in its 
members, we call it a nation. Applying such a test to the 
Spanish American republics, some of them, such as Mexico, 
Argentine, and Chile, are undeniably nations."' 

Certainly the Mexicans as individuals possess certain typical 
characteristics. But, as a nation, Mexico has not yet a strong 
national character, because it has not a crystallized culture of 
its own; because, as every young nation in full period of trans- 
ition and fusion, some of the features of its national type are 
in an embryonic stage. 

Throughout this paper I have described some of the elements 
— racial, social, and cultural — which are influencing the nais- 
sant character of the new nation. 

Let us single out, for the study of the Mexican character, 
that type of Mexicans whose psychological traits are less dif- 
fuse; those who belong to the not very large group in whom 
homogeneity in race and culture is more or less an accomplished 
fact, those whose similarity in ideals makes of them, also, a 
moral social unity. I am referring to that type that, outside 
of Mexico, would be called in general Latin-American. 



> Brj-ce, op. cit., p. 425. 

69 



70 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

The Mexicans have, with more or less definiteness, as have 
all Latin-Americans, the features of the Spanish character. 
Their psychology is practically the same. 

The Mexicans have striking characteristics. They possess a 
keen sense-perception and their conceptions are rapid. Their 
power of intuition is remarkable. Their reasoning is quick; 
they seize the idea and react mentally upon it quickly, or do 
not react at all. "One marked national characteristic of the 
Latin- American," says Crichfield, "is his marvelous develop- 
ment of the sense-perception and extraordinary keenness of 
mind; his mind is as sharp as a razor and as keen as the point 
of a sword. "2 

Perhaps due to this "mental impulsiveness," they often lack 
method in their reasoning and want in thoroughness. To keep 
their minds busy they must have, like children, new subjects 
always before them. Persistence in one task, intellectual or 
manual, which becomes mechanical and monotonous, exasper- 
ates them. It is this craving to do something new and to 
change that makes an American with experience in Spanish 
America say that "if an uncultured Latin-American be placed 
with a machine one of the two things must happen, either the 
Latin-American will ruin the machine or the machine will kill 
the Latin- American." 

Their capacities, hard pressed by a powerful imagination, are 
unable to sustain effort in one single direction at a time. The 
imagination puts wings to their ideas and they soon fly, leaving 
the world of realities behind. It was a Latin that called the 
imagination "la loca de la casa." Being imaginative, the 
Mexican is frequently an idealist and a dreamer; this is the only 
thing in which he is persistent in his idealism. His artistic 
temperament makes him respond keenly to any aesthetic mani- 
festation. He loves form and elegant diction in literary expres- 
sions. That is why French literature is so at home in Mexico. 

"French literature," says Bryce, "has a double attraction for 
Latin-Americans. It gratifies their fondness for graceful and 
pointed and rhetorical expression. Spaniards, like Frenchmen, 
love style and French style has for them a peculiar charm. 
They have an intellectual affinity for France, for the brightness 



2 Crichfield, American Supremacy, Vol. I, Chap. XXV. 



National Character 7l 

of her ideas, the gaiety of her spirit, the finish of her literary 
methods, and the quaHty of her sentiments. "» 

The reaction of these mental qualities upon the ordinary life 
is too well known. They have been the source of our back- 
wardness commercially and industrially. We are an anach- 
ronism in this intensely industrial epoch. The "bohemian" 
contempt of the Mexicans and, in general, of the Latin peoples, 
for common and ordinary work, and a decided disposition to 
avoid the prosaic commandment, " In the sweat of thy face shalt 
thou eat bread," is proverbial. 

"The Mexicans are 'impractical,'" say the Americans, "and 
unable to undertake solid enterprises," and they, full of charity, 
take care of our mines and railroads. "The Mexicans are men 
of chivalry and poetry and not men of affairs," say the English- 
men, Germans, Frenchmen, etc., and they, with a lovely spirit 
of helpfulness, take charge of practically all our commercial and 
industrial enterprises. And we, with our manners of grand 
seigneur and hidalga countenance, showing that there are some 
drops of Don Quixote's blood in our veins, pass along, in an 
imaginary aloofness, looking down with an Olympic contempt 
on these modern Phoenicians, who placidly smile at our empty 
pockets and sometimes empty stomachs! 

But, after all, which are the happier? Mr. Bryce, trying to 
be mild on our weak points, says, "They are not fond of commer- 
cial business. The process of money making has not for them 
that fatal attraction which enslaves so many capable men in the 
United States." 

The emotional responsiveness of the Mexicans is striking, 
but their moods change suddenly. Their enthusiasms are 
"fire in straw," their passionate impulses are like "soap bubbles." 
They are very excitable and prone to act rashly under the im- 
pulses of the moment. The defects springing out of these 
characteristics are obvious. Feelings apart from intelligence 
lead to sentimentalism, to blind action. 

To sum up, I am going to quote the lucid opinion of Dr. 
Speer.< "Speaking generally," he says, "the Latin-Americans 
are warm-hearted, courteous, friendly, kind, patriotic to the 



' Bryce, op. cit., p. 519. 

* R. E. Speer, South America, p. 73. 



72 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

very soul, but the tone, the vigor, the moral bottom, the hard 
veracity, the indomitable purpose, the energy, the directness of 
the Teutonic people are lacking in them." 

Yes, and we do not only lack directness and stubborness in 
the work, but we are lacking in the sense of personal respon- 
sibility and ambition to improve our work. We forget that we 
live in a world in which only the people of energy and indomit- 
able purpose are the victors. The old Spanish slogan, "labor is 
for plebeians," has gone for ever, and in this commercial and 
industrial epoch culture in its broad sense includes activity, 
ability to work, to produce, and to create. 

As long as we shirk from the hardships of commercial, in- 
dustrial, or agricultural work and instead look for "soft snap," 
and are willing to fossilize ourselves in the semi-repose of a 
public office, or go into the literary professions — thus "spoiling 
a successful shoemaker in the making of a poor lawyer, or to 
waste ten years to make ourselves useless" — our country will 
drag along painfully. 

Who is going to work to change this Latin attitude toward 
labor and life in general? The family? It is doubtful. The 
old Spanish prejudice against trades and commercialism as an 
occupation has been inherited and is deeply rooted in our par- 
ents. They are the first who wish rather to see their sons starv- 
ing as lawyers than prosperous as storekeepers. They fondly 
do their best to keep their sons from toil and hardship in their 
preparation for life. Their lives are easy and their road smooth. 
How can a young man raised under those conditions face the 
battle of life courageously and successfully? Thus the Latin- 
American boy or young man is ever dependent and is always 
looking toward his parents or the government for help and 
using his father as a crutch to walk through life. 

How much we have to learn from the Teutonic peoples in this 
respect! They push their sons into the scrap for life, as the 
duck pushes its offspring into the water. Franklin wrote to his 
wife, regarding his son, "He must be disabused and shown that 
at the rate I am spending my money there will be nothing left 
for him." 

If the Latin- American fathers could only be persuaded to 
take the same attitude! 



National Character 73 

Can the Church Help Us in This Respect} 

There is no doubt that religious ideas can influence men deeply. 
"They are the only forces that can influence character in a 
rapid manner,'' says LeBon, but what has the Church in Mexico 
done? In her stubbornness to stick to some old dogmas and 
traditions, in her absolute refusal to meet modern conditions 
and ideas half way, she has left the uneducated believers in the 
most hopeless fanaticism and the educated classes in the darkest 
of agnosticisms. We have allowed our old gods to die and our 
faith is tottering! And the great culprit has been our Church. 
We are not irreligious, "gods are not immortals, but religious 
spirit is eternal." But the Catholic Church has refused to come 
up with us into the modern world and civilization and we have 
been left alone. We are now too grown up to believe in "fairy 
tales," and this is the method by which our Church has en- 
deavored hopelessly to keep in our hearts the most beautiful 
and dearest thing in a soul, faith. 

Mexico needs a religious readjustment. We need a renais- 
sance in our faith and beliefs. "History shows us," says LeBon, 
"that people do not long survive the disappearance of their 
gods. The civilization that is born with them also dies with 
them. There is nothing so destructive as the dust of dead gods."^ 
But if our old "gods" are dead our God is alive. The spirit of 
Christianity is too deep in our hearts and too dear to our souls 
to fade away. How are we going to reorganize our beliefs? 
Protestantism perhaps? Oh, no! The missionaries that go to 
Mexico might keep this in mind. Mexico as a nation will be 
Protestant only when the New Englanders have bull-fights 
every Sunday! 

But I am getting away from my topic. I wanted only to 
remark that our Church cannot help us to modify our present 
morals. 

So here, as in many other social problems in Mexico, the 
School is the only potent factor of reform. I am well aware of 
the fact that the school, everywhere, is only a part and at the 
best not a large part, as a means of moral education. But in 
Mexico the school must lead, direct, and inspire not only its 
pupils, but the other powerful moral agencies, such as the 

'LeBon, op. cit., p. 191, for all his quotations on religion. 



74 Mexico: Its Educational Problems 

family and the community and Church. It must show the 
parents the folly of their conduct toward their sons, it must 
educate them too. 

And as to the children, what a splendid opportunity for a 
school and for a teacher. 

The school as a store to get knowledge is an anachronism in 
our days. The school as molder of characters is the modern 
ideal school. 

How is the modern school trying to mold the character? Not 
through preaching against evil, neither through soporific les- 
sons on ethics, but by saturating with morality every bit of work 
that the pupil performs. By giving a worthy outlet to the 
native impulses and instincts of the pupil through practical 
channels, in the broad social sense, thus making conduct that 
springs from those instincts and impulses able to react justly 
and skillfully in the daily life and situations. If the pupils 
gain in the school power to stand on their own feet and have 
stamina enough to face the battle for life courageously, such a 
school has done its duty and such pupil will have initiative, 
persistence, and industry, which are all blossoms of a true moral 
sense. 

What a good chance for the school to arouse in our little 
Latin-Americans a sympathetic disposition toward work, by 
appealing through a wise course of study to their interest in con- 
nection with problems of their community life. If the right 
kind of materials and motives are given, the children will always 
work and work hard. They are not yet possessed by the con- 
tempt for work that their parents have; their natural impulses 
toward activity are greater than any social prejudices; and 
when these pupils leave their school they have already the habit 
of toil and the right attitude toward work. From that school 
will come out less holders of diplomas and more producers of 
wealth, and national regeneration and emancipation will be then 
a happy reality. 

What a good chance for a teacher to appeal through his meth- 
ods to the instinctive "making" capacities of his pupils to arouse 
in them the much needed systematic and orderly energy in 
their tasks. The right method not only gives good results but 
shows that persistence and order in action are sources of suc- 
cess. It gives a "mental clue" to how to reach an end. How 



National Character 75 

the inconsistent and changeable Mexicans need to acquire such 
attitude of mind, such habits of thought and action. We need 
thoroughness in overcoming our racial inability to go to the 
bottom of the mastering of any task; actuation, so that the work 
will not be left for Manana; indepe?idence and freedom of ac- 
tion during the labor, so as to arouse in the always dependent 
little Latin that sense of personal responsibility and initiative 
which they lack. 

The interest in the work, the motives of action, must be of a 
broad social service. This side of education will never be too 
much emphasized in a Latin country, where the most selfish 
individualism reigns supreme. 

Above all, the teacher must remember that ideas do not in- 
fluence conduct until they have been transformed into senti- 
ments. In children, emotions are intensively active and, if 
everywhere life is ruled by emotions more than reason, in a 
Latin country and in our children this is even more true. 

So give the little ones an ideal, cultivate in their tender hearts 
an ambition, a dynamic desire to accomplish something, to be 
someone, to help someone. Do not crush their little souls with 
brutal materialism, making them breathe and move in an at- 
mosphere of narrow utilitarism. Leave in their hearts some 
illusions to dream about. Sometimes there is such joy to dream 
and fancy! How unhappy must the people be who do not, who 
can not dream! 

But awake in those little people, too, that manly attitude 
toward life which makes man successful. Take away from 
them that Latin-intellectual sentimentalism that makes of every 
youth a "romantic do-nothing," or a doll of the drawing rooms. 
Yes, indeed, pour iron into their souls! 



CHAPTER V 

CONCLUSIONS 

My task is at its end. I have not brought a new theory into 
the field of Education; I have not offered a new contribution to 
the world of ideas. The august altar of this science has re- 
mained with its old consecrated gifts. To increase its precious 
burden is only a genius's privilege; already there are many, a 
legion of common and ordinary "producers" of "new" ideas 
and "novel theories." Perhaps they are more daring than I, 
or it may be, in their fondness for their works, they forget what 
a really new idea is; they ignore what a new theory really means. 

Where is, then, the originality that a work of this kind is 
supposed to have? I do claim the originality of bringing to 
the attention of my Alma Mater an undiscovered field for a 
noble educational crusade. I am only sorry that my intellect 
did not follow the expectations of my heart. I should like to 
have called the attention of the whole educational world to 
Mexico's educational needs and problems. No, I have not 
brought a new method to investigate or with which to impart 
knowledge; but I have brought to you, instead, an ignored people 
to be educated, a forgotten race to be uplifted. 

There has been for a long time a general desire in the cultured 
circles of the United States to help China in her fight against 
obscurity. American teachers have gone over and American 
schools have been built. Indeed, the Modern China owes much 
of her occidental culture to the United States. But the Mex- 
icans receive of their powerful and cultured neighbor mainly 
bullets to make their fratricide war more effective. No, Mex- 
icans have not even heard of your wonderful institutions of 
learning, of your magnificent palaces to science; but they know 
your monstrous battleships that are now infesting their ports. 

It is one of my fond illusions to hope that some day my coun- 
trymen will know "the other Americans," those whom I know, 
those who are building schools, those who are working patriotic- 

76 



Conclusions Tl 

ally to make their country a better country, those who are 
fighting unselfishly to make humanity a better lot. 

If the interest of those Americans is aroused by the facts pre- 
sented in this work and our situation is to them a revelation 
which could stimulate them to do us good, then I consider that 
my effort has not been lost. I have done my duty as a Mexican. 
Meanwhile, our door is open and you know now what we badly 
need. 

As to the Mexicans, one word: 

I am not afraid of a Yankee conquest, I do not believe in a 
Japanese invasion, I do not think a European colonization pos- 
sible. I am afraid of the Mexican peril! I believe that the 
greatest danger for our national existence is right in our own 
country. If some day our nation is bound to disappear from 
the world of the living, I dread that the Brutus will be a Mexican. 
God knows that it breaks my heart even to think of it. But 
who, having observed closely some of the unhappy develop- 
ments of the last three years, can help having those thoughts? 

But it is time yet to find ourselves! We must not lose our 
hope. Suffering is a great molder of character and teacher of 
experience. Our racial inheritance is no better and no worse 
than the inheritances of the other races. It is up to us to culti- 
vate and put in relief its great qualities and to correct and ban- 
ish its faults. We must throw away our prejudices and in- 
dolences and live and participate in a world in which activity 
in industry and commerce is the striking characteristic. "Im- 
placable civilization," says Kidd, "has passed sentence on all 
the races that are unable to adapt themselves to our form of 
social evolution and from that verdict there is no appeal." 

Our indifference to public affairs concerning our country is a 
dangerous sign. Personal effort, personal interest, willingness 
to do something to take our country out of her present chaos 
is our greatest need. I make Demoulin's apostrophe to the 
Frenchman mine. "Social salvation," he says, "is an essen- 
tally personal affair. . . Every one must shift for himself!'^ 

The Mexicans who think (there are some) that we are an 
anemic race bound to degenerate, are ignorant and weak or half- 
suicides. There is plenty of stamina and pluck in our race; 
there is enough energy and hardihood in our people. We only 



78 Mexico: lis Educational Problems 

need to educate them to teach them how to use all these qualities. 
"The Mexicans," says Bryce, "are children of the most dogged 
of the native races as well as the most stalwart of the Spanish 
settlers." 

What has the future in store for us? Only God knows. We 
must have faith in him. Success comes to those who believe! 



VITA 

Manuel Barranco was born in Huayacocotla, Edo de Ver. 
Mexico, June 21, 1884. He was graduated from the Normal 
School of Mexico City. After teaching three years in that 
institution, he was sent to the United States by the Mexican 
government to study educational systems. He attended the 
Hyannis Normal School, obtaining his teacher's diploma in two 
years (1910). He attended Teachers College, Columbia Uni- 
versity, from 1910 to 1914, with major subjects in Education, 
obtaining the B. S. degree in 1911, the M. A. in 1912. 



t 



